Republican Senator Richard Lugar finally came to his senses and spoke out against staying in Iraq. He cited several concerns, but interestingly enough, revealed the real, unspoken fear of many GOP'ers: The republicans might lose the next presidential election if they don't denounce the war!
From CNN:
Lugar also warned the president that failing to pay heed to domestic political opposition to the war, especially with a presidential campaign approaching, would result in contentiousness that would "greatly increase the chances for a poorly planned withdrawal from Iraq, or possibly the broader Middle East region, that could damage United States interests for decades."
"The president and some of his advisers may be tempted to pursue the 'surge' strategy to the end of his administration, but such a course contains extreme risks for United States national security," Lugar said. "The president and his team must come to grips with the shortened political timeline in this country for political operations in Iraq."
"A course change should happen now, while there is still some possibility of constructing a sustainable bipartisan strategy in Iraq. If the president waits until the presidential election campaign is in full swing, the intensity of confrontation on Iraq is likely to limit [options]," he said.
Other republican war hawks are starting to crawl out from under their rocks and denounce the war, including Sen. George Voinovich, (R-Ohio), who sent his own letter to the president.
But please note for the record...this ONLY happened after popular support for the war among republicans began to show up in the polls!
The American people (democrats first, followed reluctantly by republicans) are finally waking up the republicans in congress to the fact that they are sick of the war. And they're not forgetting about it.
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