Tony Snow had a fairly short press briefing yesterday, much of which was dominated by questions about the new GAO report documenting the failures in Iraq. It led to an interesting exchange:
Q: Democrats are saying that this GAO report basically shows that President Bush’s Iraq strategy is not working. How do you respond to them? Why should they not view it that way?
SNOW: Well, number one, they ought to talk to the Democrats who have just come back from Iraq who said just the opposite. So, I mean, you’ve had Senator Durbin, Senator Levin. You had a number of key Democrats who have come back and talked about — Senator Biden, even — suggesting that there have been, in fact, significant changes under the surge and there have been significant progress.
There’s this myth working its way through conservative circles that Democratic lawmakers visit Iraq, get confused in the “Green Zone fog,” see a couple of slide presentations, and come back to the U.S. convinced that the president’s strategy is working. Snow, apparently, buys into the myth (and is intended to spreading it further) arguing that Dems have come to the “opposite” conclusion of the GAO.
He mentioned three lawmakers specifically who we should “talk to” in order to understand what’s really going on: Sens. Durbin, Levin, and Biden.
As it turns out, that’s a terrific idea.
What did Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) have to say after returning from a visit to Iraq?
“The purpose of the surge, by its own terms, was to … give the opportunity to the Iraqi leaders to reach some political settlements. They have failed to do that. They have totally and utterly failed.”
And how about Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin?
“Well, I honestly believe that we have to understand the reality on the ground here and deal with it. And the reality is that the Iraqis are still caught up in these squabbles between factions here that branch into civil war in their worst iteration. And we have to let them know that we cannot stay here indefinitely and wait for them to come to grips with basic questions. Do they want a nation? Do they want to come together as a nation? Who will they choose as their government, and will they be loyal to that government? I mean, these are fundamental issues still unresolved in the fifth year of this war.
“I can just tell you honestly, I don’t know if we left in 10 months or 10 years if there would be a remarkable difference. I think we’re making some measurable progress but it’s slow-going. And the fact that as our troops show some progress towards security, the government of this nation is moving in the opposite direction.”
And what of Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.)?
“We’ll be hearing a lot about the ‘surge’ over the next several weeks, but remember its purpose: to buy time for the central government in Iraq to get its act together and win the trust of all Iraqis.
“That will not happen. Absent an occupation which we cannot sustain or the return of a dictator which we cannot support; Iraq cannot be governed from the center at this point in its history. There is no trust within the government, no trust of the government by the people, no capacity by the government to deliver security and services, and no prospect it will build that trust and capacity any time soon….
“Last week, our entire intelligence community came to the same conclusion. The National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq found that ‘Iraqi political leaders remain unable to govern effectively’ and predicted that ‘the Iraqi government will become more precarious over the next six to twelve months.'”
Anybody else you think we should talk to, Tony?