2 GOP SENATORS START PULLING THE PLUG

Bush Likely to Lead Shift in Iraq Policy This Fall, McConnell Says
CQ TODAY
MIDDAY UPDATE
May 25, 2007 – 1:54 p.m.

As President Bush prepared to sign a $120 billion Iraq War funding bill later today, House Democratic leaders vowed to keep up the pressure for a change of course in the war. The Senate’s top Republican predicted Bush himself would lead such a shift this fall.

“I think the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the fall, and I expect the president himself to lead it,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

McConnell indicated that he expects Bush to redirect U.S. policy in Iraq along the lines recommended last December by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.

The group recommended a stepped-up diplomatic and political effort in the region and a withdrawal of most U.S. combat troops. Remaining troops, the study group said, should focus on training the Iraqi military and conducting strikes against al Qaeda militants operating within Iraq.


FACE THE NATION
CBS News
Sunday, May 27, 2007

SCHIEFFER: Well, let me get to Senator Sessions. Senator Sessions, I want to ask you about something your Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said last week while all of this debate over funding this was going on, and he said, quote, "The handwriting is on the wall. We are headed in adifferent direction in the fall in Iraq, and the president is going to be the one to lead the way." That sounds like a different strategy. What is he talking about?

Sen. SESSIONS: Well, I think most of us--I think almost all of us really understood this surge to mean just that. Frankly, the last brigade is not even in Iraq yet. But by September, when General Petraeus is to make a report, I think most of the people in Congress believe, unless something extraordinary occurs, that we should be on a move to draw that surge number down. I don't believe we need a soldier in Iraq a single day longer than is necessary to serve our national interests. We've had a tough year, there's no doubt about it. In 2005 General Casey thought we could draw down troops in 2006, and we've not been able to do that. But this government in Iraq has got to step up, and we've got to be able to draw our troop levels down, to be in a more supportive role, an embedding role, a training role, and they've got to defend their own country.

We also need to ask what is the impact--what context are we looking at in the overall war on terrorism here? I mean, what does Iraq mean? There's no doubt if we're not successful in Iraq, the initiative will move to the al-Qaeda, the radical jihadists that are--will attack around the world. So peace will not occur just by drawing our troops home. It will really embolden the enemy. So the best solution is to get this Iraqi government up, get them to preserve their own integrity as a nation, and to defend themselves. And that's a very important thing to achieve.

SCHIEFFER: Senator, I don't want to read too much or put words into your mouth, but, listening to you, what you seem to be saying, and tell me if I'm wrong here, is that if things don't change dramatically on the ground in Iraq by September that Republicans are no longer going to be able to support keeping more American troops in Iraq, that at that point we'll have to begin thinking about some sort of a withdrawal timetable. Is that what you're saying here?

Sen. SESSIONS: I'm thinking that we need to reach a bipartisan understanding if it's any way possible. And I was glad we got this supplemental resolution passed. Any delay beyond this last week would have been very bad in my opinion for our troops' morale and for our overall efforts. So we have to be realistic.

We have to know that we can't achieve everything we'd like to achieve. We have a limited number of men and women we can send to Iraq and we can't overburden them. And so we're facing some tough choices.

If we do the thing right, we need to listen. My first thought is that we absolutely need to listen to General Petraeus whose written the book on how to defeat an--a counterinsurgency for the military. He's spent almost three of his last four years in Iraq. He's a brilliant leader and a Princeton PhD. So I believe we--I believe we need to listen to his advice as we go into the fall.

SCHIEFFER: What you seem to be saying, though, senator, that we're going to have to think of another kind of strategy, and that is what your leader, Mitch McConnell, was saying. What would a different kind of strategy be?

Sen. SESSIONS: I don't think we need to be an occupying power. This is a fine line we've walked, and this surge has got to be temporary. We do not need to be and cannot be perceived as just occupying Iraq for any extended period of time. General Abizaid always was concerned about that. I shared his concerns.

But because of the violence in the capital city of Baghdad, we had to take a bitter pill, and this Congress has supported General Petraeus and the step up for a surge for a temporary period.

SCHIEFFER: Senator Levin, I'm going to get to you in just a second. But hearing Senator Sessions, I have to ask this additional follow-up. Do you think the president gets it? Do you think he is where you are on this, Senator Sessions?

Sen. SESSIONS: You asking me?

SCHIEFFER: Yes, sir.

Sen. SESSIONS: I think he is coming around to that. A note in the , I believe, The New York Times yesterday that top defense officials are talking about a major reduction in 2008 in the number of troops, and they're working on plans that would be harmonious with that concept. I certainly hope that's will occur. We cannot sustain this level, in my opinion, in Iraq and Afghanistan much longer.