Even as President Bush is ordering an increase in the U.S. military presence in Iraq, two Virginia senators—both former Marines—are calling for a different policy.
Newly elected Democrat Jim Webb took Bush to task in his rebuttal to the State of the Union address: “The president took us into this war recklessly. …We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable—and predicted—disarray that has followed.” Webb called for a new direction, “an immediate shift toward strong regionally based diplomacy, a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq’s cities, and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq.”
More significant have been the efforts of Senator John Warner, a fifth-term Republican, who wants to ensure that the United States doesn’t repeat the mistakes of Vietnam. He’s co-sponsored a nonbinding resolution that opposes the deployment of 21,500 additional troops to Iraq and instead calls for regional diplomacy with Iraq’s neighbors. To pass, the resolution needs 60 votes.
