On Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) endorsed the McCain plan to send more U.S. soldiers to Iraq. Cornyn wants an additional 20,000 - 50,000 additional troops to go to Iraq. Like McCain, he's delusional. But if more troops is what McCain and the GOP are pushing, so be it. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), who actually knows what he's talking about when it comes to military issues, smacked Cornyn and this emerging GOP idea down pretty hard.
The Republicans in Congress have been derelict in their duty for the past 3 1/2 years while Iraq has spiraled out of control. Now, their solution is to send more soldiers into the middle of a civil war that George Bush fostered and created.
I'll get the transcript when it's up. I suspect we'll have video soon, too.
UPDATE: Here's the transcript:
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: Well, it is. And it shows that criminal enterprises in Iraq of all stripes, whether it's smuggling oil or kidnappings and extorting ransom or other criminal activities are what are financing the insurgency.
That's why I believe we have to go big, in the terms of the Pentagon. We have to surge additional force there so that we cannot only clear areas in Baghdad but we can actually hold them.
BLITZER: How big do you want to go?
How many additional -- beyond the 145,000 U.S. troops already on the ground, how many more do you want to deploy?
CORNYN: Well, I would take the advice of our generals on the ground. But I think we're talking about 20 to 50,000 additional troops to embed them with the Iraqis, so that when we clear areas, we can actually secure them.
Then we need to disarm the militias. We need to arrest al-Sadr and make sure the government has a monopoly on the use of legal force.
BLITZER: All right, let me bring Senator Reed in. What do you think -- another 20,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops to deploy, to deal with the current crisis?
SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: Well, I think 20,000 extra troops would probably not be decisive in terms of changing the political dynamic and the security dynamic in Iraq.
And indeed, we'd have a very difficult time sustaining an additional 20,000 troops over, say, a year or more. A third of our brigades in the United States are reporting nondeployable because of personnel and equipment shortages.
So the prospect of a magic bullet with just more troops, I don't think is there. In fact, General Abizaid indicated in his testimony that he would not recommend additional troops.
digg this!
