Presidential candidate and Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd is the first presidential candidate to speak out today on the news today that the goals set up by President Bush for the Iraqi government as part of his surge plan are likely to be missed by the end of this summer. Instead, the Bush Administration and military leaders are seeking new ways to define progress since the increase in some 20,000 troops to Iraq earlier this year.
The Los Angeles Times reported this morning:
“In September, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, is scheduled to present Congress with an assessment of progress in Iraq. Military officers in Baghdad and outside advisors working with Petraeus doubt that the three major goals set by U.S. officials for the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki will be achieved by then.
Enactment of a new law to share Iraq’s oil revenue among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish regions is the only goal they think might be achieved in time, and even that is considered a long shot. The two other key benchmarks are provincial elections and a deal to allow more Sunni Arabs into government jobs.
With overhauls by the central government stalled and with security in Baghdad still a distant goal, Petraeus’ advisors hope to focus on smaller achievements that they see as signs of progress, including local deals among Iraq’s rival factions to establish areas of peace in some provincial cities.”
The surge strategy was criticized heavily by Congressional Democrats and has seen low approval ratings in public opinion surveys on the strategy.
Senator Dodd released this statement today:
“Today’s report that top advisors to General Petraeus do not believe that the Iraqi government will meet basic political goals set out by President Bush in conjunction with the troop surge is yet another indicator that goals and benchmarks set without real consequences will not have any effect. We need to be clear in our policy in Iraq, not only for the sake of our national security, but for the sake of the Iraqi government as well. Setting a firm and enforceable deadline for redeployment of troops is the path toward such clarity.”
Senator Dodd has been one of the leading Democrats in the Senate to establish a withdrawal date from Iraq of March 2008, and campaigned on that issue in Des Moines two weeks ago. He has begun airing ads in Iowa and New Hampshire highlighting these efforts and attributing, in part, the decisions of Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to vote for the Feingold-Reid-Dodd amendment on the Iraq Supplemental Appropriations Bill that would have established a timeline for withdrawal.
Dodd has yet to see significant gains in polling in Iowa on the Iraq issue or from the TV ads. Former Senator John Edwards and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson have both been on the air in Iowa over the last month, with Gov. Richardson seeing a significant increase in support in a recent Des Moines Register Iowa Poll. Some Iowa Democrats believe that with Dodd on the air, it is only a matter of time before he begins to see an increase in support.
On the other side of the aisle, Arizona Senator John McCain has largely been critical of the two perceived front-runners on the Democratic side — Sens. Obama and Clinton — and has been a staunch supporter of the President’s surge strategy. As of this evening, Sen. McCain nor his campaign had offered any statement on the LA Times report.
Cross-posted at Iowa Independent.
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