Republicans in Congress got Iraq war pep talks Tuesday from top administration officials who say the military surge is working.
House GOP members got a progress report from Defense Undersecretary Eric Edelman while Republican senators heard from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The officials spoke to the lawmakers in conference calls.
“The sense is now that real, tangible and solid progress is being made,” one participant in the House call said.
Democrats in both the House and Senate had been counting on GOP votes in September to help pass legislation to end the conflict, but recent reports showing signs of improvement in Iraq may persuade many Republicans to keep supporting President Bush’s war policies.
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, are scheduled to brief Congress the week of Sept. 10 on the effect of the troop surge.
GOP backing for the war had been wearing thin earlier this year, with many Republicans threatening to withdraw their support if the war outlook did not improve. Under tremendous pressure to show progress, Iraqi leaders announced Sunday that they had come to agreement on some of the issues that had been keeping the government from effectively operating.
“The majority are saying ‘stay the course in Iraq,’ ” said one top GOP lawmaker who requested anonymity because the calls are supposed to remain secret.
House Minority Leader John Boehner encouraged members not to drop their support of the war, despite organized anti-war efforts in the districts of some moderate Republicans.
“We have stuck together since January because we know what the stakes are, and we are going to stick together now,” Boehner told lawmakers.
Recent progress in Iraq has not changed the minds of Democratic leaders, however, all but guaranteeing another partisan showdown when lawmakers return after their August recess.
“The president continues to stubbornly pursue a flawed strategy that has mired our troops in a civil war in Iraq and diverted our attention as Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda grow stronger,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “Most Americans, and a bipartisan majority in Congress, believe this strategy is not in our national interest, and the time for a major change in strategy is now.”
