Senator Kennedy on troop "surge": ''I respect Harry Reid on it, but that's not where I am.''

[DeepModem Mom]

Editor&Publisher/AP: Debate Breaks Out in Media on Iraq Troop 'Surge'
Published: December 17, 2006

NEW YORK -- Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Sunday he would support a temporary troop increase in Iraq only if it were part of a broader strategy to bring combat forces home by early 2008.

''If the commanders on the ground said this is just for a short period of time, we'll go along with that,'' said Reid, D-Nev., citing a time frame such as two months to three months. But a period longer than that, such as 18 months to 24 months, would be unacceptable, he said....

But President Bush's former secretary of state, Colin Powell, said he was skeptical that any type of troop surge would be effective, noting that ultimately it is the Iraqis who must stand up and stop their growing sectarian violence.

Bush is considering several options for a new strategy in Iraq, such as a proposal backed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., that would send tens of thousands of additional troops for an indefinite period to quickly secure Baghdad. There are about 134,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now.

That plan would run counter to recommendations by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which set a goal of withdrawing combat troops by early 2008 in support of more aggressive regional diplomacy....

***

Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who is on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said there would be widespread opposition by members of his committee if Bush proposes a troop increase.

''We have to understand that there is absolute chaos that is taking place there. This country is falling apart,'' Kennedy said.

Regarding a temporary troop surge, Kennedy said, ''I respect Harry Reid on it, but that's not where I am.''...

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003522707

[NVMojo]

1. Harry Reid - DLC - one foot in the GOP

[MaggieSwanson]

2. Oooo, that's catchy.

NVMojo, will you be in DC on January 27th?

I'd like to chant that with you and several hundred thousand others.

[shadowknows69]

4. Somebody come get me

I want to be there. Nice maneuver by Reid to jump on the "save the troops in 08" campaign. Bring them home NOW!!!

[bigtree]

3. Reid didn't commit to anything

"If the commanders on the ground said this is just for a short period of time, we'll go along with that," said the Democratic senator, citing a time frame such as two months to three months. But a period longer than that, such as 18 months to 24 months, would be unacceptable, he said.

"The American people will not allow this war to go on as it has. It simply is a war that will not be won militarily. It can only be won politically," Reid said. "We have to change course in Iraq."


from the 'progressive' Atrios: (http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_12_17_atrios_archive.html#116637830187050119)

Reid on Iraq

People seem to be upset that Reid sorta-endorsed the McCain/Lieberman plan to increase the number of troops in the short run. I don't really see it that way - no Senator can expect to micromanage troop levels in Iraq. Reid basically said that he's fine with any strategy which has the goal of getting the troops out by about next Spring. That, of course, isn't the McCain/Lieberman strategy.

-Atrios 12:55 PM

[babylonsister]

5. I'd really like to know what a 'short period of time' is, and who

exactly would be pulling them out when that short period of time was up? Once they're there, I'd be very skeptical of them being allowed to come home.

[bigtree]

6. so would Reid, from what I garnered from his statement

He wasn't committing himself to anything. He'll evaluate the request from the generals, or whatever emerges, on it's own merits. He was responding to a hypothetical and he made it clear that he wasn't for some open-ended commitment. What he left out, and I'm sure will be forthcoming, is a insistence that any plan to increase have a clear objective, as Jack Reed just told Wolf Blitzer. Then he'll make a judgment. He has one vote. As majority leader, he'll be charged to come forward with a consensus response to whatever emerges from the WH. The party isn't the top-down enterprise it once was. He'll tow the line of the majority of our senators.

We need to stay on the phone with our legislators and escalate our appeals.

[still_one]

7. I don't care for Reid, and am not happy with his views on this, but he is NOT part of the GOP

and if you read what he said, unless it is only 2 to 3 months, any troop increase is unacceptable. The administration will NOT agree to those terms, so it means nothing

[peacetalksforall]

8. The situation is so dire that we need to fight to speak and we need

to hear everyone. Our leaders just can't get on the same boat the way they did for a war on the Taliban which took down Hussein. And the way nearly all our leaders got on the Patriot Act vote and all the other travesty votes.