As General Odom says, the endgame will start "when a senior senator from the president's party says no," much as William Fulbright did to L.B.J. during Vietnam. That's why in Washington this fall, eyes will turn once again to John Warner, the senior Republican with the clout to give political cover to other members of his party who want to leave Iraq before they're forced to evacuate Congress. . . .
Not again. We wait for the Godot Republicans. John Warner will do NOTHING. John Warner will bring along few if ANY Republicans. As I wrote before, John Warner has undercut the drive to end the Debacle at every turn:
Mr. Rich believes Republicans will end the Debacle:
Contrary to Mr. Edwards, only Republicans in Congress can overcome presidential vetoes and in so doing force Mr. Bush’s hand on the war. As the bottom drops out of Iraq and the polls, those G.O.P. votes are starting to line up.
If only this were true. Mr. Rich must know that Republicans have been singing this song for a while. Mr. Rich's colleague, David Broder, has told us that John Warner is the key. And Senator Warner is illuminative on the subject. Senator Warner has made noises for some time about ending the Debacle, but always votes for the Bush plan, whatever it is at the time, including the Surge. A review of Senator Warner's statements and actions is instructive:
On October 5, 2006, Senator Warner returned from a trip to Iraq saying:
[Warner] said the military had done what it could and that Congress must make some "bold decisions" if, after three months, progress is not made by the Iraqis to calm ethnic violence and hasten reconstruction.
. . . Warner said he sees the next 60 to 90 days as most critical juncture yet in the war because Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki is growing into the job and says he is committed to disarming militias. . . . Warner said he was told on his latest trip that, at the earliest, U.S. and Iraqi forces may have an agreement at the end of the year outlining when and how responsibility could begin to be transferred to the Iraqis.
240 days later, and Congress has made no bold decisions; no agreements on an Iraqi takeover of security have even been broached. Indeed, what we saw instead was a "surge" of American troops into Iraq. What did Senator Warner say about that? Why he torpedoed the NON-binding resolution condemning the Surge.
Recently, Senator Warner torpedoed the NON-binding timelines in the Iraq Supplemental; his NON-binding benchmarks proposal became the final version of the bill.
What Broder and Rich propose is what I have termed the Waiting for the Godot Republicans strategy. Mr. Rich knows the reference:
Democrats and anti-war groups that are waiting for Republicans to move to end the Debacle now sound like this:
Vladimir: Well? Shall we go?
Estragon: Yes, let's go.
They do not move.
People like Frank Rich and Carl Levin count on John Warner to save their bacon and save the country. The Democratic Congress shirks its responsibility hoping against hope that John Warner will get it done.
It is a disgrace. It is a forlorn hope. It will never happen. If this is the Democratic plan for Iraq, then we are without hope.
