Another senior Republican breaks with Bush on Iraq
Jim Swanson July 5th, 2007 - 8:07 pmBy Susan Cornwell
from YAHOO NEWS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush’s Iraq war policy continued to hemorrhage support in the U.S. Senate as another senior Republican called on Thursday for a new strategy that would start to bring troops home.
A day after Bush appealed to Americans to be more patient with the unpopular war, six-term New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, who is up for re-election next year, urged a new course.
“I am unwilling to continue our current strategy,” Domenici, who serves on the Senate’s defense appropriations subcommittee, said in a statement.
“I do not support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq or a reduction in funding for our troops. But I do support a new strategy that will move our troops out of combat operations and on the path to coming home,” Domenici said.
Domenici joined the ranks of influential Republican lawmakers who recently have broken with Bush over the 4-year-old conflict in Iraq, declaring themselves unable to keep backing a war that has no end in sight after the deaths of 3,590 U.S. troops.
“I have carefully studied the Iraq situation and believe we cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress to move its country forward,” Domenici said.
Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, declared last week that Bush’s strategy was not working and troops should start leaving. Ohio Sen. George Voinovich, another Republican, urged “gradual military disengagement.”
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