General, Iraq War Veteran, National Security Expert Respond to Lugar, Voinovich Bombshells

General, Iraq War Veteran, National Security Expert, Groups Respond to Lugar, Voinovich Bombshells on the War

As Major GOP Figures in Congress Begin to Abandon Bush on Iraq, All Eyes Turn to Warner and Other Key Senators Including Collins, Snowe, Sununu, Specter, McConnell, Domenici, Gregg, Coleman and Grassley

"Senator Lugar's speech renders the September reports from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker irrelevant."

Brian Katulis, Center for American Progress Action Fund

            June 27, 2007 (Washington D.C.) - A retired Brigadier General with extensive experience in counter insurgency operations, a veteran of the Iraq war, a leading national security analyst and representatives from groups leading the effort to bring a responsible end to the war in Iraq, held a press conference call with national reporters today to react to the comments by U.S. Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN, Senior Ranking Republican, Senate Foreign Relations Committee) and George Voinovich (R-OH, Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee) this week calling President Bush's policy in Iraq a failure and calling on the President to withdrawal troops from Iraq. 

All the participants in today's call welcomed the newfound positions of Sens. Lugar and Voinovich in favor of withdrawing troops from Iraq, called on them to match their words with actions when key votes on the future of Iraq policy are cast on the floor of the Senate, said the September time frame for assessing the policy in Iraq is now moot and that eyes are now on the position of U.S. Senator John Warner (R-VA), the senior ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee who is scheduled to visit Iraq next week.  Participants also said other GOP Senators will feel the heat to reevaluate their positions in light of this weeks events, including Sens. Collins and Snowe of Maine, Specter of Pennsylvania, McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Minority Leader, Coleman of Minnesota, Sununu and Gregg of New Hampshire, Domenici of New Mexico, and Grassley of Iowa.

Brigadier General John Johns, (USA, ret), who has extensive experience in counter insurgency doctrine from 26 years in the Army including service in Vietnam, said the President's escalation strategy was doomed to failure from the outset and that we did not need until September to reach that conclusion.

"I am happy to see more Republicans standing up to the President and I am waiting for my senator, Senator Warner, to join with these other senators," said Johns.  "There must be continuous pressure on the President to stop this ill-fated adventure."

Brain Katulis, a national security expert with the Center for American Progress Action Fund called Senator Lugar's speech this week historic and said that it had immediately reordered the debate over the future of Iraq policy.

"Senator Lugar's speech renders the September reports from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker irrelevant," said Katulis.  "Senators Lugar and Voinovich are joining progressives and a growing consensus of Americans who recognize Iraq's grim realities and the fact that U.S. military action cannot settle Iraq's multiple internal conflicts."

Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and founder of VoteVets.org offered:  "What is happening is what troops and veterans have been asking for, for a long time - for members of the President's own party to start to speak honestly about what the situation is in Iraq and what needs to change.  While we're grateful, we're not satisfied yet.  These Senators and the others to come must back their words up with action.  They must vote the right way, or they'll just be paying lip service to the needs of those who are risking their lives in service to America."

Tom Matzzie, the Washington Director of MoveOn.org Political Action and the Campaign Manager for Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI) said that Lugar and Voinovich's calls for withdrawing troops, combined with the activity of AAEI's Iraq Summer effort targeting 40 members in 15 states will increase heat on Republican Members of Congress to abandon Bush on the war.

"We are turning the voices of 2/3 of the American public into an organizing machine to pressure members of congress who can make a difference on the war," said Matzzie.  "We are using a blend of: cutting edge online organizing, paid and earned media, old school grass roots organizing, volunteer operations, sign waving and bird-dogging  to give members of Congress a choice: vote to end the war or face political extinction."

"If Senator Lugar's newfound position on the war was a tsunami washing over the Iraq debate, Senator Voinovich's call for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq was an earthquake of seismic proportions shaking the very foundations of President Bush's failed policy in Iraq," said Brad Woodhouse, President of Americans United for Change.  "In less than 24 hours two of the most respected Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and two of President Bush's biggest backers in Congress, have declared his Iraq policy an abysmal failure and have said responsibly withdrawing U.S. troops is the only viable alternative left.  President Bush's support for his failed war policies in Iraq are in free fall on Capitol Hill.  Now, all eyes are on Senator Warner and other key Republicans in the Senate and in the House to, as Senators Lugar and Voinovich have begun to do, put the reality on the ground in Iraq ahead of loyalty to President Bush and call for the responsible redeployment of our fighting men and women out off harm's way."

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