[NYTr] Iraq Pullout "a giant step backward"? Better Late than Never

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

CNN - Aug 24, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/24/us.iraq/?iref=mpstoryview


US general: Pulling troops 'giant step backward'

WASHINGTON (CNN)  -- A U.S. commander in Iraq said he believes it's not
possible to withdraw troops from his region south and east of Baghdad
by year's end as an influential senator called for a day earlier.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said his forces would lose the edge they have
gained if troops were withdrawn.

Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Multi-National
Division-Center, was asked to comment on Republican Sen. John Warner's
recommendation that President Bush start withdrawing U.S. troops from
Iraq by Christmas.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters Friday via teleconference from Iraq,
Lynch said, "Only when the Iraqi security forces come forward and say,
'OK, here I am, I'm trained and equipped, I'm ready, I'm the Iraqi army
or I'm the Iraqi police,' can I turn those sanctuaries over, and that's
not going to happen between now and Christmas."

Lynch, whose operations cover the central part of Iraq, south of
Baghdad, said soldiers have been helped by the "surge," or additional
troops, and have made strides against militants. But he said, "If we
were to lose that capability, the enemy would come back."

We would take a giant step backward," said Lynch, adding he needs the
troops to fight both Shiite and Sunni militants and to confront
significant Iranian influence in the region.

By next spring or summer, however, such a move might be possible if
enough progress is made, he said.

Retired Army Brig. Gen. David Grange, a CNN military analyst, agreed
with Lynch's assessment.

"Time is necessary for the Iraqi people to gain confidence in U.S. and
Iraqi troops throughout their neighborhoods, get the commerce and other
quality of life improvements to take hold, enable the weak political
structure a chance to improve and exploit the counterinsurgency
opportunities that success is providing from this effort," Grange said.

 Warner, an influential Republican and former chairman of the Senate
Armed Services Committee, on Thursday recommended that Bush announce
the beginning of a U.S. withdrawal in mid-September and that those
troops should be back in the United States by Christmas.

"In my humble judgment, that would get everyone's attention -- the
attention that is not being paid at this time," Warner said.

He added: "I really, firmly believe the Iraqi government, under the
leadership of Prime Minister [Nuri] al-Maliki, let our troops down."

Warner, a Virginia Republican who was a former Navy secretary,
suggested pulling 5,000 troops off the battlefield would send "a very
clear signal" without endangering the missions being carried out by the
rest.

In Texas, where Bush is on vacation, National Security Council
spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the White House appreciated Warner's
advice but would wait for the recommendations of Gen. David Petraeus,
the U.S. commander in Iraq, and the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan
Crocker, before making any decisions.

Petraeus and Crocker are to report to the White House in September on
the progress of the troop surge.

Warner opposed Bush's January decision to send nearly 30,000 additional
U.S. troops to Iraq. But he has so far also opposed Democratic efforts
to force the president to start bringing U.S. troops home.

The surge campaign was aimed at buying time for Iraq's government to
reach a political solution to the sectarian and insurgent warfare that
has wracked the country since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

Warner's recommendation came on the same day as the release of the U.S.
intelligence community's latest report on Iraq, which found "measurable
but uneven improvements" in security in recent months. However, it
concluded that Iraq's political leaders "remain unable to govern
effectively."

Democrats have tried to wind down the war since taking over Congress in
January, but Senate Republicans have used filibuster tactics to stymie
those efforts.

After Thursday's report, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada,
called on Republican senators to join Democrats to force Bush to change
course -- and a senior Democratic leadership aide urged Warner to add
his vote to those efforts.

"Will he [Warner] vote with us on anything? That is still the open and
most important question," the aide said. "A recommendation to the
president is different than voting for binding legislative language
compelling the president to act."

A Senate Republican leadership aide said Friday that Warner's remarks
slowed some of the momentum on Iraq that Republicans had gained after
Democrats had acknowledged recent military success in Iraq.

But unless Warner were to change his vote to side with Democrats, the
impact on the debate in Congress is minimal -- Republicans "aren't in
any different place than they yesterday," the source said.

A Senate Democratic leadership aide had a similar opinion of the impact.

"The real question would be is Warner willing to vote to support a
change of course and policy, and as of yesterday he ruled that out,"
the source said.

The aide suggested that Warner's recommendation was timed to coincide
with the National Intelligence estimate because it gives the White
House a position it might be willing to accept -- that the 5,000-troop
cut might be palatable to Bush.

Warner and the Armed Services chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan,
recently returned from a visit to Baghdad with harsh words for the
al-Maliki government. advertisement

Levin said Monday that Iraq's parliament should throw al-Maliki out of
office and replace his government.

Warner said he would not join that call. "But in no way do I criticize
it," he added