NYT/AP: GOP Senator Lugar: Bush, Congress Should Discuss War: Doubts wisdom of troop increase

[DeepModem Mom]

Lugar: Bush, Congress Should Discuss War
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 31, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The outgoing Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee expressed doubt about the wisdom of increasing troops in Iraq and urged President Bush to consult with lawmakers before changing his war strategy.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said if the president goes ahead with a call for an increase in troops without involving the new Democratic-controlled Congress, he can anticipate ''a lot of hearings, a lot of study, a lot of criticism.''

Lugar also suggested his committee, which Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., will lead beginning in January, hold a ''retreat'' to discuss the Iraq situation, even before Bush's expected upcoming address to the nation.

Lugar also said that the U.S. should not rule out conversations with Iran and Syria, as well as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, regarding the instability in the region.

The Indiana senator appeared frustrated that the president has not done more to consult Congress on Iraq policy....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-Iraq.html

[babylonsister]

1. YES! Come on, rethugs, let's hear it! nt

[brentspeak]

2. For the past 6 years, Lugar has been one of the few half-way sane GOP senators

[salin]

3. Yes (in voice) and No (in action)

Hard pressed to find much that when it came down to holding a hearing at the bequest of the admin (think John Bolton) or at the time of a vote that my Sen. Lugar didn't end up backing bushco.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Lugar sputters toward good decisions

but then ends up being yet another Republican asshat. He's like a few others in the Senate who sometimes say the right thing, but rarely if ever act on it. Given their awareness of the situation I'd say that makes them guiltier of war crimes than your run of the mill senate republican moron who still thinks that Iraq had WMD and was connected with 9-11.

[indypaul]

5. He has played the roll of

the piano player in the whore-house for the past six years
while the foreign policy of this nation has suffered. The
lack of oversight by his committee has been a direct cause
of the current mess we are in. If, as most neocons believe,
"Government that governs least, governs best." We have
originated a government in Iraq that fits that description
perfectly. Our job is done, come home now.