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July 17, 2007

Update: Reed's troop plan comes at 'critical juncture'

AP photo
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., second from left, discusses the war in Iraq during a news conference on Capitol Hill today. From left are: Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., Levin, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen Jack Reed said today an amendment he's co-sponsoring, which would begin reducing American troops 120 days after becoming law, comes at a "critical juncture."

The Rhode Island Democrat, during a midday news conference, said the Bush administration's Iraq policy is "diminishing our standing" in the international community and is "rapidly losing the support of the American public."

Senate Democrats are preparing to stage an all-night debate to dramatize their efforts to force President Bush to begin bringing troops home from Iraq and to change what Reed called “a policy that cannot be sustained.”

Tonight's session is an attempt to draw attention to a Republican tactic to require the Democrats to muster 60 votes for their legislation to force troop withdrawals and a new, reduced mission in Iraq.

Opponents joined a group of Iraq war veterans at their own press conference today. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., said: "The sad truth is that too many of our colleagues are asleep when it comes to Iraq."

Lieberman and Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate from Arizona, went on to support the president's surge strategy in Iraq. The two senators said the strategy needed the time and resources to succeed.

Reed and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., his partner in the legislation, acknowledge that they are short of the votes necessary to force an up or down vote.

The Senate is now slated to vote tomorrow on whether to limit debate on the Levin-Reed amendment to the overall defense authorization for fiscal year 2008.

The amendment is a plan offering "the Iraqi people the best chance to move forward," Reed said in remarks, which were available via streaming video on projo.com.

-- John E. Mulligan, Journal Washington Bureau, and projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

The measure at hand is a tougher version of legislation that Reed and Levin have offered several times before. It would require the United States to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq 120 days after enactment of the bill.

By next May 1, it would require the United States to complete its transition to a more modest mission in Iraq, encompassing continued anti-terrorism efforts, training of Iraqi forces and protection of the American forces.

Reed has heretofore resisted placing a hard deadline on the completion of such a mission change. He explained in an interview today that he now supports a deadline for accomplishing the mission shift.

Reed reasons that troop rotation schedules and other such factors make it impossible for the U.S. military to sustain the current level of about 160,000 troops in Iraq. Therefore, Reed said today, it is now time to begin to force the administration to plan for the troop reductions that will become necessary next spring.

Reed said he continues to believe that tens of thousands of troops will have to remain in Iraq for an indefinite period of time.

President Bush and Republican Senate leaders have lobbied hard in recent days to resist change of strategy in Iraq, at least until next month, when U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus plan to issue a report on the effectiveness of the so-called surge in U.S. troops.

Mr. Bush ordered the surge last winter in order to improve security in and around Baghdad as a way of promoting the Iraqi government’s efforts to reconcile that nation’s competing ethnic and religious groups.

Besides the start of troop reductions in Iraq, Reed said the amendment calls for:

* Transitioning to special missions next spring for such things as counter-terrorism operations.

* A "comprehensive diplomatic effort" -- Reed said "one of the dramatic failings" of the Bush administration has been a one-dimensional policy of military force alone.

"We have bipartisan support based on the reality in Iraq, the needs of our military and the best interests of the United States in the world," said Reed, who completed his 10th wartime visit to Iraq last week.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 3:20 PM | Permalink

July 17, 2007

Update: Reed's troop plan comes at 'critical juncture'

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