The Gazette September 18, 2007
After Baghdad trip, Salazar plans legislation to pull troops from Iraq
By Tom Roeder
Sen. Ken Salazar says that he’ll push legislation to pull U.S. troops out of combat in Iraq and that he thinks he can win over enough moderate Republicans to overcome a 60-vote threshold that has stymied similar efforts.
The move comes after Salazar’s return from a trip to Baghdad. He said during a telephone news conference Monday that his plan to pull U.S. troops back to training and support roles would spur Iraqi politicians to the path of reform.
“The Iraqis need to be forced to achieve that reconciliation, otherwise the war will continue endlessly and our soldiers will be forced to keep the top on a powder keg,” Salazar said.
If nothing else, Salazar has found a shaky piece of middle ground. Critics on the right say the freshman Democrat from the San Luis Valley would endanger American lives by legislating combat rules that should be set by commanders on the ground. Critics on the left say Salazar isn’t going far enough and should call for a flat withdrawal.
Since spring, Salazar has called for changes in the Bush administration’s war aims. He introduced a bill earlier that would require the administration to implement recommendations conceived last year by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.
His new plan would modify that bill by putting U.S. troops into three basic roles: providing support and supplies to Iraqi units, training Iraqi soldiers and police, and participating in counter-insurgency operations aimed at al-Qaida.
“It’s just nuttiness,” said James Jay Carafano with the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
Carafano said limiting the role of troops would prevent them from taking the fight to the enemy and thus putting more Americans in danger.
John Pike of the defense think tank GlobalSecurity.org said Salazar’s plan is similar to the rules imposed on soldiers in Vietnam. Pike said the plan would perpetuate the current cycle.
“Every time we draw down our forces, the security situation goes wobbly, and they have to put more of them back in,” Pike said.
Bill Sulzman, a Colorado Springs peace activist, said Salazar is pandering to pro-war elements with a halfhearted effort.
“I see it as a posturing, positioning, politics,” said Sulzman, who wants Salazar to call for an outright end to the American role in Iraq.
Salazar’s new legislation could face Senate debate as soon as this week, but could be short-lived if he doesn’t garner the 60 votes required to end debate and prompt a vote on the measure.
© Copyright 2007, The Gazette
