US has lost war in Iraq, says top Democra
US has lost war in Iraq, says top Democrat
By Andrew Ward in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: April 20 2007 02:44 | Last updated: April 20 2007 02:44
The US has “lost” the war in Iraq and President George W. Bush’s efforts to stabilise the country through increased military force are futile, according to Harry Reid, leader of the Democratic majority in the US Senate.
The comments are among the starkest admissions of defeat in Iraq yet made by a senior US politician and highlight the increasingly wide and bitter division between Congress and the White House over the war.
Mr Reid said he believed that Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, and Robert Gates, defence secretary, already knew “that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything”.
The Nevada senator pointed to the car bombings that killed more than 200 people in Baghdad on Wednesday and last week’s suicide bombing of the Iraqi parliament building as evidence that increased US troop numbers were failing to quell the violence.
Mr Reid’s bleak assessment comes as the Democrat-controlled Congress prepares to pass war-funding legislation that will set a timetable for the end of combat operations in Iraq.
Mr Bush has promised to veto any bill including a withdrawal date, creating an impasse that threatens to delay billions of dollars of urgently-needed military funding.
Speaking during a visit to Ohio yesterday, Mr Bush said the proposed legislation would undermine the military.
“If you’re a young commander on the ground, or an Iraqi soldier, and you’ve been tasked with a mission to help provide security for a city, and an enemy hears that you’re leaving soon, it affects your capacity to do your job,” he said.
Mr Reid said he delivered his blunt assessment of US prospects in Iraq directly to Mr Bush during a meeting about the war-funding bill at the White House on Wednesday.
“I told him . . . what he needed to hear,” said Mr Reid. “I believe the war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically.”
Mr Reid drew a parallel between Mr Bush and former US president Lyndon Johnson, who sought to avoid defeat in Vietnam 40 years ago by increasing troop numbers at a time when 24,000 US troops had already died.
“Johnson did not want a war loss on his watch, so he surged in Vietnam. After the surge was over, we added 34,000 to the 24,000 who died in Vietnam,” Mr Reid said.
Before the setbacks of recent days, Bush administration officials had been voicing cautious optimism that its deployment of an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq was starting to deliver results.
But General David Petraeus, chief of coalition forces in Iraq, admitted yesterday that Wednesday’s car bombings had dented confidence.
“A day like that can have a real psychological impact, and it came where, frankly, [we] felt like we were getting a bit of traction,” he said.
By Andrew Ward in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: April 20 2007 02:44 | Last updated: April 20 2007 02:44
The US has “lost” the war in Iraq and President George W. Bush’s efforts to stabilise the country through increased military force are futile, according to Harry Reid, leader of the Democratic majority in the US Senate.
The comments are among the starkest admissions of defeat in Iraq yet made by a senior US politician and highlight the increasingly wide and bitter division between Congress and the White House over the war.
Mr Reid said he believed that Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, and Robert Gates, defence secretary, already knew “that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything”.
The Nevada senator pointed to the car bombings that killed more than 200 people in Baghdad on Wednesday and last week’s suicide bombing of the Iraqi parliament building as evidence that increased US troop numbers were failing to quell the violence.
Mr Reid’s bleak assessment comes as the Democrat-controlled Congress prepares to pass war-funding legislation that will set a timetable for the end of combat operations in Iraq.
Mr Bush has promised to veto any bill including a withdrawal date, creating an impasse that threatens to delay billions of dollars of urgently-needed military funding.
Speaking during a visit to Ohio yesterday, Mr Bush said the proposed legislation would undermine the military.
“If you’re a young commander on the ground, or an Iraqi soldier, and you’ve been tasked with a mission to help provide security for a city, and an enemy hears that you’re leaving soon, it affects your capacity to do your job,” he said.
Mr Reid said he delivered his blunt assessment of US prospects in Iraq directly to Mr Bush during a meeting about the war-funding bill at the White House on Wednesday.
“I told him . . . what he needed to hear,” said Mr Reid. “I believe the war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically.”
Mr Reid drew a parallel between Mr Bush and former US president Lyndon Johnson, who sought to avoid defeat in Vietnam 40 years ago by increasing troop numbers at a time when 24,000 US troops had already died.
“Johnson did not want a war loss on his watch, so he surged in Vietnam. After the surge was over, we added 34,000 to the 24,000 who died in Vietnam,” Mr Reid said.
Before the setbacks of recent days, Bush administration officials had been voicing cautious optimism that its deployment of an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq was starting to deliver results.
But General David Petraeus, chief of coalition forces in Iraq, admitted yesterday that Wednesday’s car bombings had dented confidence.
“A day like that can have a real psychological impact, and it came where, frankly, [we] felt like we were getting a bit of traction,” he said.
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