Senator Carper on the "surge"

Many of you heard Sen. Carper live on WDEL this morning, giving his reaction to President Bush's newest plan for Iraq.

If you did not, he will be on WILM with John Watson from 10:15-10:25 this morning and also will do the WHYY “Friday Forum” tomorrow night live with Nancy Karibjanian from 5:35 – 5:45.

Here is the statement he released last night...

"I have serious reservations about the president's new strategy and fear it will not be successful in quelling the violence that plagues Iraq and endangers American troops.

Many military leaders have said a so-called ‘surge’ in American forces will do very little, if anything, to stop the violence in Iraq. Instead, they fear, as I do, that absent a realistic and sustainable political solution in Iraq, the president’s strategy will not achieve its intentions and will further over-extend our military forces in the region.

For the past year, I have said that we need to begin a phased redeployment of American forces out of Iraq because it will force the Iraqis to take greater responsibility for their security and their future.

I have also urged the Bush administration to fully engage in brokering a Middle East peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, as well as work to persuade Iraq’s neighbors that they have a stake in helping Iraq’s new government succeed. I have also urged the president to directly engage Iran and Syria to help stabilize Iraq and support its new government. Ignoring them doesn’t mean they’re going away.

I look forward to more carefully reviewing the details of the president's plan over the next couple of days, as well as to a rigorous debate in the Congress over the direction we must take in Iraq.”

--ASM