Levin Amendment Undercuts Any Chance for Success in Iraq (Sen. Lindsey Graham)

I think it’s an ill-advised public policy for us to make. If you set a hard date for withdrawal now than you’ve undercut any chance we have to turn things in Iraq and there are signs that things are turning around based on the surge. The changes in Anbar are dramatic : it used to be al Qaeda held territory before the surge, now the local population has rejected al Qaeda and we are recapturing territory that the old strategy allowed al Qaeda to seize control of.

So, I think there is progress. I am going to wait till General David Patraeus returns in September before I make any long-term decision.  A long-term decision made now will undercut what progress we have made. Those who have aligned with us to defeat al Qaeda will be slaughtered if we leave precipitously. And political reconciliation has been slow to come but will be impossible with a failed state. And a failed state would be made possible by a hard date to withdrawal.