Goes to Iraq, finds out good things are happening, so he decides that they need a new government.
How might that work out? More chaos, so “we lose”? Perhaps a more Iranian friendly PM so “we lose”? Maybe 5 more months of negotiations to come up with a new PM that is known as Senator Levin’s puppet, so “we lose?”
Despite their deepening concerns about Maliki’s leadership flaws, U.S. officials also believe that any new prime minister would confront the same obstacles in trying to broker political reconciliation.
[Really??]Still, Democrats have quietly begun to voice a view that Maliki must go; Durbin said he told White House national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley that last week. But they acknowledge that they do not know what would happen next. If it appeared that Maliki had been ousted at Washington’s behest, his replacement would be seen as a U.S. puppet — a “kiss of death” in the region, Durbin said.
[What, you mean you can’t see into the future? And yet I thought Bush was supposed to be able to do that?]And Democratic leaders might feel compelled to ease their antiwar position to allow a new government to take root.
[ooh – that would be bad.]“Imagine if we have to step in with a brand-new leader and a new government,” Durbin said. “How many more months would we have to wait?”
(bracketed notes are mine if you couldn’t figure that out!)
How about we just give Petraus a chance to report back come September and give his recommendations? How about we let the Iraqi’s govern themselves as they gain a bit of stability? How about since you want our troops out so that the Iraqi troops will “stand up”, we do the same politically? You stand down, Mr. Levin and then they can stand up.
Levin was unambiguous. Like other Democrats, he hailed the work of U.S. forces and an increasingly capable Iraqi army. Ten of the Iraqi army’s 12 divisions are now trained, Levin said, and by year’s end, an 11th will be ready.
Even so, he said, those forces will not take control until U.S. troops stand down. Levin stood by his timeline for beginning troop withdrawals within four months, with most U.S. forces out by the middle of next year.
UPDATE: JK at ThreeSources has this to say:
Pity the poor Iraqis. They are going to learn about democracy from the likes of Senator Carl Levin.
Yes – Pity the poor Iraqis.
ithinkthereforeierr.wordpress.com 