Skeptical senators press U.S. ambassador to Iraq for answers

[maddezmom]

Source: McClatchy

Posted on Thu, July 19, 2007
WASHINGTON — The U.S. ambassador to Iraq appeared via videoconference before skeptical senators Thursday to answer their impatient questions, including this one from Sen. Richard Lugar, the leading Republican expert on foreign affairs:

Are you planning for an eventual change of mission or redeployment of American forces in Iraq?

The Indiana senator, who's called for planning ahead for a withdrawal so that it won't be done poorly, said there'd been reports that the Bush administration had pressed officials to abandon any such planning.

Crocker said he knew of no efforts to create a Plan B.

"I'm fully engaged, as is General (David) Petraeus, in trying to implement the president's strategy that he announced in January," he said, referring to an increase of nearly 30,000 U.S. troops, mainly to try to quell sectarian fighting in Baghdad. "The whole focus is implementation of Plan A."

Other members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pressed Crocker for evidence that "Plan A" is working, when there's no visible progress toward a political solution to end the violence. Some said he should warn Iraqi leaders that Americans would withdraw someday and Iraqis should take advantage now of the "breathing space" to settle their differences.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/18177.html

[OnyxCollie]

1. There is no Plan B

because leaving the oil behind is not an option.

[Strawman]

2. Way to "support the troops" Chimpy

By not planning for any and all contingencies. Hopefully, they are just lying to Congress as usual.