For all of the talk from war supporters about lowering expectations for September — John McCain has been at it, as has Gen. Petraeus himself — it appears the train has already left the station. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who no one would reasonably describe as anything but a very conservative Bush loyalist, appears to have climbed aboard.
[Sessions] indicated Sunday that Republicans will be ready by September to look at bipartisan efforts to draw down the troops that were part of the surge to help secure Baghdad.
“We have to be realistic,” Sessions said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “We have to know that we can’t achieve everything we’d like to achieve. We have a limited number of men and women we can send to Iraq, and we can’t overburden them.”
The senator added that, when General David Petraeus is reporting back on the progress of the surge in September, “I think most of the people in Congress believe, unless something extraordinary occurs, that we should be on a move to draw those surge numbers down.” […]
“I don’t think we need to be an occupying power,” said Sessions, who hopes that bipartisan solutions can be found on Iraq. “This is a fine line we’ve walked, and this surge has got to be temporary…. We cannot sustain this level, in my opinion, in Iraq and Afghanistan much longer.”
When Chuck Hagel makes comments like these, it’s expected. When Jeff Sessions makes them, it’s unusual.
In the broader context, Sessions appears to be part of a trend. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) recently said he “won’t be the only Republican, or one of two Republicans, demanding a change in our disposition of troops in Iraq” by September. Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said he’ll need to see “significant changes” by September. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) wants a change if the policy isn’t working “by the time we get to September.” Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) said, “There is a sense that by September, you’ve got to see real action on the part of Iraqis. I think everybody knows that, I really do.”
We’ll see. Anyone who has ever bet on congressional Republicans bucking the White House on war policy has lost money. That said, whether war supporters like it or not, September is circled on DC’s calendar.