| This evenings talking head shows left me a little befuddled. More than once I heard our Senator, Carl Levin, was willing to talk about a troop surge in Iraq.
Hello?
False alarm. If the quotes in the print media are accurate, the impressions the talking heads left was an over reaction.
From Reuters
Michigan Democrat Sen. Carl Levin also predicted the Republican president would soon find a way to end the "open-ended commitment" of U.S. troops to Iraq, even if Bush does propose a short-term boost in forces.
"I can't believe the president is simply going to say, 'We're going to increase troops in Iraq,"' Levin told reporters outside the Senate. "It's likely the president would add something of a conditionality to it."
"The (recent congressional) election is far too clear, that the public wants to change course and find a way out of Iraq and not get in deeper in Iraq," said Levin, who is the incoming chairman of the Seante Armed Services Committee.
The article continues
While he had no information on Bush's intentions, Levin said he thought Bush would "at a minimum" reverse the open-ended nature of the U.S. troop commitment in Iraq.
"I predict, whatever kind of surge he's going to propose, that he's going to find a way to correct the statement that he made twice to the Iraqis that we're there as long as the Iraqis want us to be there," Levin said.
Levin said any temporary "surge" he might consider backing, would need to be combined with the announcement of a reduction in U.S. forces starting in four to six months, and set political milestones for Iraq to meet. emphasis added
This is consistent with Levin's position to date, which can be found on his Web site.
If Levin is serious about starting a withdrawl in four to six months, and I have no reason to doubt it, BushCo can blather on all he wants about surges, but it isn't going to happen.
Levin's comments were a polite way of saying "You can propose anything you want Mr. President but our troops are coming home." |
