Graham says Warner gets it backwards

Washington Post:

After serving two weeks of reserve duty in Iraq, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) yesterday called for continuation of the "surge" of U.S. troops in Iraq and warned that any decision to mandate a withdrawal this year would undercut critical gains made in recent months.

Graham's comments come at a time when some of his colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee, including Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), are calling for troop withdrawals. Graham, a colonel in the Air Force Reserve and a longtime supporter of military deployment in Iraq, is the only member of the Senate to serve in Iraq.

"With all due respect to Senator Warner, the model he is suggesting -- to put pressure [on the Iraqi government] by mandating troop withdrawal -- is exactly the opposite of what we should do," Graham said in an interview after returning from Iraq this past weekend. "I believe the pressure that will lead to reconciliation will not be from what an American politician thinks but what the Iraqi people think. And I'm confident that the Iraqi people have turned a corner."

Graham, who wore fatigues and was armed with a Beretta pistol throughout his stay, also served a brief reserve duty in Iraq in April. During previous trips to Iraq -- both on reserve duty and on official congressional visits -- he said he had concluded that the United States was making "many mistakes" in its war strategy and was on the verge of losing control of Iraq, particularly when Gen. George W. Casey Jr. was the military commander.

But the boost in U.S. forces has produced more progress than Graham had anticipated, he said yesterday.

"The surge has produced better security. And if you mandated withdrawal now, it would undercut the progress we've made and embolden people who are on the ropes. Be patient. Continue to supply strongly economic, political and military support, and I believe . . . we'll have a breakthrough in Baghdad," he said.

The major change from his earlier visits was produced by a confluence of factors, particularly as the deployment of more U.S. troops coincided with Iraqi reaction to al-Qaeda in Iraq excesses in trying to control the Sunni areas, Graham said.

"We can't take credit for that. They tried to impose a lifestyle that is counter to what Iraqis wish for themselves," he said. The Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq even tried to ban smoking, he noted. "So it was a magic meeting of the moment -- with al-Qaeda overplaying its hand and [the United States] increasing its capacity."

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Getting al Qaeda to be itself is something that we can take credit for. Even opponents of the war have suggested that the only reason they are there is because we are there. While they may are may not be so, there is no question that our resistance to al Qaeda being there is something the Iraqis now support and that is a good thing. We need to continue to keep the pressure on and not raise false hopes at home are in al Qaeda land by suggesting a premature withdrawal.