A rather stunning critique of the Bush plan for troop escalations has come from the Republican Kansas Senator Sam Brownback:
“I do not believe that sending more troops to Iraq is the answer,” Brownback said while traveling in Iraq. “Iraq requires a political rather than a military solution.”
Brownback had previously supported a short-term surge of troops if it could help achieve long-term political stability, which the Bush Administration has said it hopes a troop surge will help achieve.
But Brownback rejected that argument after meeting this week with several Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and U.S. military commanders.
“I came away from these meetings convinced that the United States should not increase its involvement until Sunnis and Shi’a are more willing to cooperate with each other instead of shooting at each other,” Brownback said.
“The best way to reach a democratic Iraq is to empower the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own nation building,” Brownback concluded, saying it is not in U.S. interest to get deeply involved in sectarian strife.
Not surprisingly, Brownback’s comments also reflected the reality on the ground that Iraq may be moving dangerously towards balkanization.
I think many people, especially conservatives who back the President, do not realize that the surge is in fact a “flip-flop” from the Rumsfeld doctrine, which failed miserably. If you know anything about the early successes in the war, you might know that the wisdom of the Generals who asked for troops on the ground was overruled by Rummie and thus Bush.
Moreover, Rummie disbanded and dismissed US Army leaders who wanted to use classic counterinsurgency tactics with boots on the ground, instead favoring highly mobile and mechanized “Stryker” brigades. So Brownback is really echoing an opinion that it is too late to flip-flop and now implement what was dismissed by Rummie. The military role has been altered so much by executive mismanagement that a political solution is the best counterinsurgency plan for the current situation.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has just seen a new bill introduced (HR 413) that tries to repeal the legislation that gave the President the authority to invade Iraq:
A BILL
To repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243) and to require the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq .
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REPEAL OF PUBLIC LAW 107-243.
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note) is hereby repealed.
SEC. 2. WITHDRAWAL OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FROM IRAQ .
The President of the United States shall provide for the withdrawal of units and members of the United States Armed Forces deployed in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in a safe and orderly manner.
It will be interesting if this brings up the argument again that the “Mission Accomplished” speech by Bush ended the scope of his authorization and the time spent since then has been unauthorized.