After all the Democratic pressure for a new National Intelligence Estimate of the situation in Iraq, the Democrats themselves seem to be the most shaken by the report’s conclusion–that withdrawal “of coalition forces from Iraq would ‘almost certainly’ increase sectarian violence, intensify Sunni resistance, possibly cause the Iraqi Security Forces to dissolve and allow al-Qaeda to seek a sanctuary to plan attacks inside and outside the country.” Senator Russel Feingold, who has been at the forefront of the push to withdraw American troops, complained that the NIE was “Setting up a false choice between indefinite military involvement and a rapid, unplanned withdrawal . . .” Feingold’s alternative to rapid a rapid withdrawal of American troops: “Framing the analysis in terms of ‘rapid withdrawal, presented an oversimplified assessment of one course of action without considering any elements of a redeployment strategy, including shifts in mission, stay-behind counterterrorism or training capabilities or regional diplomatic initiatives.” That sounds an awful lot like rapid withdrawal, and this despite the fact that Bush’s new strategy appears to be having some effect on the violence in Iraq. From the AP:
And from Reuters:
But the Democrats are doing everything they can to hamstring the troops. An editorial in today’s Washington Times quotes Rep. John Murtha on the Democrat’s plan “to effectively stop the troops in their tracks.”
