“In my judgment, the costs and risks of continuing down the current path outweigh the potential benefits that might be achieved,” Mr. Lugar said Monday during a 50-minute speech on the Senate floor, which was delivered after nearly everyone in the Capitol had retired for the evening. “Persisting indefinitely with the surge strategy will delay policy adjustments that have a better chance of protecting our vital interests over the long term.”Today Senator George Voinovich of Ohio echoed the remarks of Lugar.
In an interview with reporters on Tuesday, Mr. Lugar said President Bush had limited time to change the course of the war because of the 2008 presidential campaign.
“We’re heading into a very partisan era,” he said. “The president has the opportunity now to bring about a bipartisan foreign policy. I don’t think he’ll have that option very long.”
“I am also concerned that we are running out of time,” Mr. Voinovich wrote in the letter.When the Democrats first agreed to keep funding this war I was furious. I thought they were elected to end this war and needed to do everything possible to achieve that goal. I also realized that they did not have the votes to override a Presidential veto. What they did do was compromise and fund the war through September 2007 not March 2008 as was originally intended.
This may now seem like a very forward thinking plan. The Republicans are about to revolt against a policy which will alsmost surely have many of them on the unemployment line come 2008. It is amazing how self preservation will finally get them to act.
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