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WASHINGTON - President Bush should start bringing home some
troops by Christmas to show the Baghdad government that the U.S. commitment in
Iraq is not open-ended, a prominent Republican senator said Thursday.
The move puts John Warner, a former Navy secretary and one-time chairman
of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at odds with the president, who says
conditions on the ground should dictate deployments.
Warner, R-Va., said
the troop withdrawals are needed because Iraqi leaders have failed to make
substantial political progress, despite an influx of U.S. troops initiated by
Bush this year.
The departure of even a small number of U.S. service members
-- perhaps 5,000 of the 160,000 troops in Iraq -- would send a powerful message
throughout the region that time was running out, Warner said.
"We simply
cannot as a nation stand and continue to put our troops at continuous risk of
loss of life and limb without beginning to take some decisive action," he told
reporters after a White House meeting with Bush's top aides.
Warner's
new position is a sharp challenge to a wartime president that will undoubtedly
color the upcoming Iraq debate on Capitol Hill. Next month, Gen. David Petraeus,
the top military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are
expected to brief members on the war's progress.
A White House
spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, declined to say whether Bush might consider Warner's
suggestion.
Asked whether Bush would leave the door open to setting a
timetable, Johndroe said: "I don't think the president feels any differently
about setting a specific timetable for withdrawal. I just think it's important
that we wait right now to hear from our commanders on the ground about the way
ahead."
Republicans, including Warner, have so far stuck with Bush and
rejected Democratic proposals demanding troops leave Iraq by a certain date. But
an increasing number of GOP members have said they are uneasy about the war and
want to see Bush embrace a new strategy if substantial progress is not made by
September.
Warner, known for his party loyalty, said he still opposes
setting a fixed timetable on the war or forcing the president's hand.
"Let the president establish the timetable for withdrawal, not the
Congress," he said.
Nevertheless, his suggestion of troop withdrawals is
likely to embolden Democrats and rile some of his GOP colleagues, who insist
lawmakers must wait until Petraeus testifies.
His stature on military
issues also could sway some Republicans who have been reluctant to challenge
Bush.
Warner said he came to his conclusion after visiting Iraq this
month with Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the Armed Services Committee
chairman; Warner is the committee's second-ranking Republican. Levin said this
week that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki should be replaced. Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, D-Calif., followed suit and told reporters Thursday that Maliki has
been "a failure."
Warner said he "could not go that far" to call for
Maliki's resignation. But he said he did have serious concerns about the
effectiveness of the current leadership in Baghdad, which a U.S. intelligence
report released Thursday also cited. The National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq
does not anticipate a political reconciliation in the next year and predicts the
Iraqi government will become "more precarious" because of criticism from various
sectarian groups.
"When I see an NIE which corroborates my own judgment
-- that political reconciliation has not taken place -- the Maliki government
has let down the U.S. forces and, to an extent, his own Iraqi forces," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the report confirms what most
Americans already know: "Our troops are mired in an Iraqi civil war and the
president's escalation strategy has failed to produce the political results he
promised to our troops and the American people."
"Every day that we
continue to stick to the president's flawed strategy is a day that America is
not as secure as it could be," said Reid, D-Nev.
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