Senior Republican Domenici Calls For Iraq War Policy Change
Yet another Republican bigwig has broken with President George Bush over his Iraq war policy:
Sen. Pete Domenici (N.M.), a 36-year Republican veteran of the Senate, abandoned President
Bush’s Iraq war policy today by publicly endorsing legislation designed to withdraw nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq by March 2008.
Domenici, a member of the defense appropriations subcommittee, is the fourth senior Senate Republican to sharply criticize Bush’s war strategy in the past two weeks. He announced during a press conference in Albuquerque that he was co-sponsoring legislation that would embrace the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, which called for a major redeployment that would leave only a limited number of troops in Iraq to focus on counter-terror operations and securing the border
“I have carefully studied the Iraq situation, and believe we cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress to move its country forward,” Domenici said. “I do not support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq or a reduction in funding for our troops. But I do support a new strategy that will move our troops out of combat operations and on the path to coming home.”
Domenici’s defection is the latest from a growing number of senior Senate Republicans who have decided to oppose the White House’s preferred plan of waiting for a mid-September progress report on the effectiveness of Bush’s “surge” plan of boosting the U.S. deployment in Iraq this year by tens of thousands of troops.
But the Republicans in general are in a dilemma when it comes to GWB. Those who are breaking with him are in effect saying they’re breaking with him but they’ll work with and trust Bush to eventually change course.
Yet, there is little indication that this President will change course — no matter what opinion polls, Republicans, former members of the first George Bush’s administration or even members of the military want. Bush’s whole modus operandi – evident in the Scooter Libby affair — is to make a decision and do it his way. Even if he has stated the opposite earlier, when he makes a decision it’s what he wants to do and consensus, other political parties and political polls don’t make any difference to him.
So the outlook is for the Republican Party to continue to be dragged down by the war in Iraq, unless there is some history-making, authentic (versus spin) turnaround in the war’s progress. Those who wait for Bush to dramatically change course and work with them may have a long wait (unless Dick Cheney decides to change course).
The only viable outcome? If enough Republicans, motivated by genuine doubts plus perhaps political self-preservation, join with Congressional Democrats to use whatever legislative tools they can to force a change in policy. But so far the Democrats don’t have the majority or political muscle (and some say the political will) to do that.
The realistic outcome is that by the fall Bush has fewer Republicans supporting his policy and his poll numbers stay in the basement or go sub-basement. But there’s no indication Bush or his administration would care about Congressional or public sentiment even then.
Only one opinion counts — and he won’t be gone until 2009.
10 Responses to “Senior Republican Domenici Calls For Iraq War Policy Change”
When it comes time to vote on key issues to change policy in Iraq, these three will NOT go against Dear Leader – big talk is all it is.
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Critics of Bush are not surprised by this, and in fact, Bush has earned this, but there’s a bad side to this as well. No President stacks up well against any of the long-time “fixtures” in Congress. And that is an enormous, disgusting problem with Washington and has been so for ages.
Nobody should find a long-term home in Washington — Washington is too big and does far more than it ever should, and the long-term residents in Washington, incumbents, their larger inner circle “inside the Beltway” in the staffs, the two party organizations, the media, a group large enough to form its own celebrity culture, exemplify what is wrong with big government and the wrong attitude about what Washington should be.
Americans want term limits!
First of all, Senator Domenici is up for re-election in 17 months. The article below shows this:
Secondly, the suggestions by the study group is no means the map to a complete and total pull-out of US troops. All we know is that Domenici wants to go in a “new” direction, but we don’t know what that really means. I guess it will be one where US troops will be military advisors to the various nationalized military and police units. Even then, units could be sent to adjacent countries to act as a quick reactionary force in case serious trouble were to happen in Iraq — the troops would not be in harms way, but they are there in case of trouble.
If Domenici and others are to push the administration to alter course, then that means GEN Petraeus and Ambd. Crocker will need to look at more wheeling-and-dealing. The solutions may not sit well with the political groups here in the states that favor the use of military force to come to a political solution.
I agree that only his vote counts- but Domenici could be facing a tough race because of US Atty Iglesias’ charges that he tried to pressure him into indicting Democrats involved in a federal corruption probe before Heather Wilson’s reelection bid. Iglesias was fired the next month.
Another Republican Senator Breaks With Bush’s Iraq War Policy
Another Republican Senator has broken with Bush over his Iraq War policy. This time, it’s Senator Pete Domenici (N.M.), a “36-year Republican veteran of the Senate.”
Domenici “abandoned Bush’s Iraq war policy today by pu…
[...] break with Bush is drawing attention in the blogosphere with discussions at The Moderate Voice, Left In The West, DownWithTyranny!, Prairie Weather, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, RedState, [...]
Domenici:
Red State, Hot Air and the Moderate Voice comment on Senator Pete Domenici’s (R-New Mexico) desire to change course in Iraq. Hot Air wonders whether there may soon be enough votes to override a veto….
A Fourth Senior Republican Opposes Bush’s Iraq-War Strategy
A member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee with 36 years in the Senate, Pete Domenici (R-NM) became the fourth senior Senate Republican to publicly criticize President Bush’s war strategy in the last two weeks (Washington Post). I’ll be darn…
Pete Domenici’s voting record on military issues can be found at: Pete Domenici’s Voting Record
Pete Domenici’s history of speeches on Iraq war policy can be found at: Pete Domenici’s Record of Speeches
For more information on Pete Domenici’s position on Iraq war policy please visit Project Vote Smart or call our hotline at 1-888-VOTE-SMART.