Posted on 01/10/2007 5:09:18 PM PST by Obilisk18
WASHINGTON - Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback came out against President Bush's expected call tonight for a surge of 22,000 more troops into Iraq.
"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.
Brownback, a conservative who is running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, is among a handful of Republican senators to publicly break with Bush on the president's plans to escalate U.S. military involvement.
Brownback has supported the war, but in recent weeks has moved away from the Bush Administration's positions.
He has called for dividing Iraq into three relatively autonomous zones - Kurdish, Shi'a and Sunni - within a federated country. And he also said he generally supported the findings of the Iraq Study Group last month, which Brownback said provided the U.S. the opportunity to "reset the table."
The Bush Administration has rejected calls to split Iraq and was noncommittal toward the Iraq Study Group's recommendations.
No, Senator Brownbeack...this should be a military solution, a political solution has been the problem.....come home and support our President!
this is the "safe" play, he's a chicken sh*t and he just proved it.
i've said many times on the political threads - we may not like McCain for various reasons, but the courageous position on this issue, in the face of all national polls, is to be for the "go big" approach.
Changing your position on such a serious issue as the War to win a few votes... What a disgusting (but not unexpected) political maneuver. Shame on you, Sam.
Norm Coleman (Rino, MN) also continues to side with the left.
This indicates to me that he does not have either the knowledge or the nerve for this fight that we are in, and I don't mean just Iraq. I really would not consider him presidential material. He is a very nice man, but, imho, not what we need.
Senator Brownback has just ensured that he will have no chance of being nominated for President. No Republican will get the nomination unless they support President Bush and our troops for victory. Brownback is being foolish, and it is a shame.
Oppose all you want Sam, the first of the surge has already arrived in Iraq.
Don't be foolish, Sam Brownback supports The Surge....of illegals flooding our border...
Senator Bareback's light loafers are showing.
I agree. The Iraq government is beholden to the militias so unless the Sunnis and Shiites are willing to work out there problems there's nothing much we can do. Also the surge is too small (even if we can dig up that many soldiers) to be effective over the long haul. This is a poor plan.
He has assumed candidate room temperature without realizing he has outsmarted himself.
This eliminates Brownback, in my opinion. It's not only destructive, undermining the war effort at a crucial moment, just as Pelosi is thinking of bringing it to a vote, it's incredibly dumb as a political move.
What, is he expecting to attract the Berkeley peacenik vote? There's not a chance in hell any of those people will vote for him no matter what he says.
Moreover, a conservative hopeful doesn't move to the center now, he moves to the center after getting the nomination.
Clearly he's a lightweight politician with poor advisers.
Brownback is a Senator, a designation that makes any claim to common sense automatically suspect and any presidential ambitions profoundly unserious.
New Orleans suffers from crime far worse than Iraq. Why don't we find a political solution with the criminal gangs infesting that cesspool? Heck, why don't we redeploy the city police and other law enforcement officials from the quagmire to Sitka, Alaska? Divide New Orleans into several cities roughly along dominant gang turf boundaries? Quit sending tens and hundreds of billions of dollars to that cesspool? Oh, wait--that last item might be a good idea, considering that New Orleans properly belongs to the alligators.
I think that's a slight exaggeration.
"This eliminates Brownback, in my opinion. It's not only destructive, undermining the war effort at a crucial moment, just as Pelosi is thinking of bringing it to a vote, it's incredibly dumb as a political move.
What, is he expecting to attract the Berkeley peacenik vote? There's not a chance in hell any of those people will vote for him no matter what he says.
Moreover, a conservative hopeful doesn't move to the center now, he moves to the center after getting the nomination.
Clearly he's a lightweight politician with poor advisers."
I think he realizes he's an extreme longshot and expects, if this surge fails, the GOP will be scrambling for a candidate as far away from Iraq as possible.
I lost interest in Brownback when he couldn't answer Hugh Hewitt's question about could we live with a nuclear Iran.
A few weeks ago he was for a troop surge, now he is against it. It is clear he put his finger in the wind and made a statement based on what he thinks is best for him, and not for the war on terror. He just demonstrated he is NOT a candidate for President. No leadership skills whatsoever. Too bad, I thought he might have promise, but he just showed he is a weak link.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.