[Anyone] They're dropping like dead flies:

[Thos Myers]

GOP Congressman Joins Sen. Domenici in Breaking With White House on War
Editor and Publisher

Thursday 05 July 2007

Albuquerque - Rep. John Doolittle, a consevative California congressman,
today joined others in his party rapidly deserting the president on the
Iraq war.

At a town hall meeting in Rocklin and then in a meeting with the editorial
board of the Sacramento Bee he questioned whether the conflict was worth
the loss of more American lives. He said U.S. troops should be pulled back
from the front lines "as soon as possible" and the fighting turned over to
Iraqi forces.

A longtime supporter of the war, Doolittle called the situation in Iraq a
"quagmire" on Thursday. "We've got to get off the front lines as soon as
possible," Doolittle said at Rocklin City Hall, the Bee reported. "And in
my mind that means something like the end of the year. We just can't
continue to tolerate these kinds of losses."

Earlier today, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) also called for a change in
course in U.S. military strategy in Iraq - without waiting for the
September report on the "surge." He joined other Republican senators as
Richard Lugar who have recently broken with the White House on this issue.

Domenici said he supports a bipartisan Senate bill which backs the recent
report by the Iraq Study Group and would create conditions that could
allow for a drawdown of U.S. combat forces in Iraq by next March.

Parents of New Mexico's military war dead in the past told him the U.S.
should stay in Iraq as long as it takes, Domenici said. Those same parents
are asking him to do more to bring troops home sooner, he added.

His office released the statement below.
*



Pointing to his profound disappointment in the Iraqi government, U.S.
Senator Pete Domenici today called for a redirection of U.S. military
policy in Iraq and announced his support for bipartisan legislation to
create conditions by which American combat troops can be removed from that
nation.

Domenici, who serves on the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee,
announced his decision to support the legislation, the Iraq Study Group
Recommendation Implementation Act (S.1545), at a news conference in
Albuquerque Thursday.

"I want a new strategy for Iraq. I continue to completely support the men
and women in the American Armed Forces. They have not failed us. It is the
Iraqi government that is failing to make even modest progress to help Iraq
itself or to merit the sacrifices being made by our men and women in
uniform," Domenici said. "I am unwilling to continue our current
strategy."

"I have carefully studied the Iraq situation, and believe we cannot
continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi
government is not making measurable progress to move its country forward,"
Domenici said. "I do not support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq or a
reduction in funding for our troops. But I do support a new strategy that
will move our troops out of combat operations and on the path to coming
home."

S.1545, introduced by Senators Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) and Lamar Alexander
(R-Tenn.), embraces the recommendations in the Iraq Study Group Report
issued by the bipartisan Baker Hamilton Commission. The bill makes the
Iraq Study Group's 79 recommendations the policy of the United States, and
asks the Bush administration-working with military and diplomatic
leaders-to implement those recommendations.

The bill is intended to create conditions that could allow for a drawdown
of American combat forces in Iraq by March 2008. Under S.1545, the U.S.
military could maintain a long-term but more limited presence in
Iraq-focused on protecting American personnel and interests, training and
advising Iraqi forces, and carrying out counterterrorism and special
operations missions.

Domenici indicated that the provisions in S.1545 could be debated as part
of the FY2008 Defense Authorization Bill that the Senate will take up next
week.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070607J.shtml