At first, Democrats argued that Iraq was no safer because of the surge, then, when evidence of progress mounted, they shifted to arguing that even though the security situation has improved, it has not led to political reconciliation. Senator Carl Levin seems to have shifted his stance faster than most:
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and senior member Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) offered a mixed assessment of President Bush's troop surge Monday after returning from a fact-finding mission to Iraq.
Although the lawmakers said in a joint statement that the surge has "produced some credible and positive results," Levin said later that it has "failed in its critical mission" of trying to provide stability for Iraqi leaders to reach a political compromise.
In their statement, the lawmakers said the surge has provided a measure of stability to the streets of Baghdad and has given Iraqi leaders some "breathing space" to try to reach a political reconciliation.
Levin, however, offered a far less upbeat assessment during a conference call with reporters, saying the surge has failed in its primary objective.
"The purpose of the surge, by its own terms, was to ... give the opportunity to the Iraqi leaders to reach some political settlements," Levin said. "They have failed to do that. They have totally and utterly failed."
Levin also said he hopes the Iraqi assembly will vote Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki out of office when it reconvenes and replace him with "a less sectarian and a more unifying prime minister and government."
You can listen to a portion of the Levin call at the lefty clearinghouse ThinkProgress.
It's disappointing to see Senator Levin note the success of the surge in a press release, only to pronounce it a failure in a conference call mere hours later. But listening to the excerpt shows that the Politico may have missed the nuance of Levin's position.
Levin first says that Maliki has clearly failed and ought to be replaced. Only a few moments later however, Levin says Iraq needs to make progress toward reconciliation "in the next few days." The Senator is referring to the ongoing discussions between Maliki and leaders of other groups in the Iraqi government on establishing a stable Coalition that can tackle issues like oil revenue sharing, de-baathification, and other benchmarks. It's a pretty tight time line, but at least one senator has hinted at movement on the political front, saying "there are prospects of political progress in the next couple of weeks." But it sounds like Levin is only giving the troops til Friday.
