Weekly Update (9/14/07)

Bush Plans More of the Same for Iraq
When General David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker appeared before Congress this week to give their much-anticipated report on Iraq, much of what they had to say was vague and disappointing. They were unable to argue that the troop surge had made significant improvements in Iraq, would not estimate how many years US troops would be present in Iraq, or when training of Iraqi troops would be complete. When asked if the efforts in Iraq had made Americans safer at home – which has been a long-standing argument of the Bush administration – Petraeus had to answer with, “I don't know, actually.”

President Bush will address the nation Thursday evening as a follow-up to these reports, and is expected to announce few changes to his war plan. Most likely, Bush will plan to draw down troops to pre-surge levels by next July, leaving 130,000 US troops in Iraq. In effect, this means that the level of troops will be the same one year from now as they were one year ago. Actually, troops could be at even higher levels – in an interview with NPR, Petraeus indicated that the numbers of troops sent home could be less than 30,000, depending on brigade size, and that they still needed to “do the math” to come up with exact figures. This vagueness, coupled with confusion over whether some troops, who are supposed to be part of the surge, are still on their way to Iraq, show just how deceptive Bush's plans are. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi responded that Bush's approach is “an insult to the intelligence of the American people.”

The American public has been told too many times that we must hold out a bit longer to see progress in Iraq. We have been waiting, but little has changed. Clearly, Congress cannot accept Bush's arguments and plans – we need real change in Iraq, with the priority on bringing our troops home. All of the candidates that DAPAC endorses for Congress agree to support these goals and will work to end the war now.

This Week's Poll
Americans remain unhappy about the situation in Iraq, and believe that the surge has not worked, according to a new poll released by the New York Times/CBS News this week. Of those polled, 62% believe that it was a mistake getting involved in Iraq, while only 34% said it was not a mistake. When asked about the surge, only 35% believed that the additional 30,000 troops had made the situation in Iraq better, while 12% believed the situation was actually now worse, and 45% did not think the surge had made any difference. Many respondents were also disappointed with the Iraqi government – 70% said that it is not doing all that it can realistically be expected to do to bring about stability in Iraq.