Another Republican Questions Iraq Strategy

Sen. Olympia Snowe Gets Behind Sen. Warner's Call For Reassessment

(AP)  Sen. Olympia Snowe has joined a growing list of Republicans calling for a reassessment of America's strategy in Iraq.

Snowe said in a statement Tuesday that as conditions in Iraq continue to worsen, "there must be no question among the (Bush) administration, the Congress and the Iraqi unity government that staying the course is neither an option nor a plan."

The second-term senator, who is seeking re-election Nov. 7, said she agrees with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, who has called for a reassessment of the U.S. strategy in Iraq.

On Sunday, James Baker III, a former secretary of state with a longstanding reputation of caution and service to Republican presidents, also joined the list of prominent Republicans lobbying for change in President Bush's Iraq policy.

In her statement, Snowe noted that last December the Senate passed an amendment by Warner calling 2006 a year of transition for the United States in Iraq.

"Yet, with fewer than three months remaining, I am deeply disturbed that 2006 has become a period marked by increased sectarian violence, as opposed to an increased ability of the Iraq government to secure its own nation," Snowe said.

"The message must be loud and clear: The Iraqi government does not have unlimited time to seize control of their country and their security by firmly confronting the sectarian violence and disarming the militias before their country reaches a point of no return," the statement said.

Snowe said Congress and the administration should be open to alternative plans for the U.S. role in Iraq. One option, she said, could be convening an international summit of international stakeholders to set a path forward in Iraq.

Maine's other senator, Republican Susan Collins, has been quoted as saying there was a "growing sense of unease" about the war among other Republicans. Collins told The New York Times that Republicans' concerns could deepen because of Warner's call for a reassessment.

"When Chairman Warner, who has been a steadfast ally of this administration, calls for a new strategy, that is clearly significant," Collins, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, told the Times.

In Maine, Snowe's re-election challenger said her statement reflects an "election year conversion."

"She is not leading in the party. She is a follower," said Democrat Jean Hay Bright, who has criticized Snowe throughout the campaign for supporting the Iraq war. "Unfortunately, it took her this long to figure out this is the wrong course for America."

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Considering the initial misleading causus belli of Iraq's weapon of mass destruction and the lack of world consensus through U.N. auspices, it should not be any suprise why the Bush Administration and America as a whole finds itself in another "Vietnam" redux. 3 years of increasing instability, growing insurgency, ethnic and sectarian conflict, failure to establish a viable regime and armed forces, and ongoing media disasters such as Abu Gharib, Fallujah and the beheading of furgeign hostages, have made the American public alomost as skeptical of the Bush Administration's objectives in Iraq as the world at large. With the 2006 Congressional elections only 3 weeks, the Repunlicans are scrambling for cover with a considerable number openly questioning the wisdom behind continued involvement in Iraq especially with such poor mismanagement, increasing sectarian and terrorist violence and lack of a clear exit strategy. Rather than reverse such a self destructive course, the Bush Administration is now leaving the final outcome of the Iraq quagmire to the next administration or Jan. 2009 at the very earliest. How long do we let our Armed Forces suffer and die in vain? When we stop being an Al-Queda recruitment poster? Why does America stop being the laughing stock, let alone impotent bully, of the world community?