The Lamont Effect

Think the Ned Lamont versus Joe Lieberman primary battle represents only a battle for the heart of the Democratic Party? Think again.

The Washington Post reports that Connecticut Republican Congressman Christopher Shays has walked away from his support for the war in Iraq.

Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), once an ardent supporter of the war in Iraq, said yesterday that the Bush administration should set a time frame for withdrawing U.S. troops. He added that most of the withdrawal could take place next year.

Shays, who faces a tough reelection campaign because of his previous support for President Bush's war policies, made his comments after completing his 14th trip to Iraq this week.

In an effort to preserve his political hide in the wake of the Connecticut Democratic primary, Shays has done a Full Lamontey.

He said he found a "noticeable lack of political will" among Iraqis "to move in what I would call a timely fashion" and concluded that Iraqi officials would act with greater urgency if the United States this fall set a timetable for withdrawal.

"My view is that it may be that the only way we are able to encourage some political will on the part of Iraqis is to have a timeline for troop withdrawal," Shays said from London in a conference call with reporters. "A timeline of when the bulk of heavy lifting is in the hands of the Iraqis."

Shays is one of only a few congressional Republicans supporting a timetable for ending U.S. involvement in the Iraq fighting, which has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 U.S. troops and an estimated 40,000 to 45,000 Iraqi civilians. Bush reaffirmed this week his opposition to the withdrawal of U.S. troops. "Leaving before the job was done would be a disaster," he warned

I think the "noticable lack of political will" is probably more evident in the office of the Shays campaign than the halls of the Iraqi government. Shays wants to send a message to the Iraqis that amounts to "You haven't been ably to undo decades of damage and fear of government institutions in less than a year. You haven't been able to bring an end to a centuries old religious conflict in less than a year. You haven't haven't shown the political will to crack down ruthlessly and enforce order strictly. Therefore in order to motivate you to get the job done, we're withdrawing our support on the following date." Nice.

Of course Shays doesn't seem all that concerned with the message this is sending to the enemy. The message they see is, "The Iraqi government is ineffective and is only able to survive with the help of the US military. But the US military is going to be out of here soon. All we need to do is cool our heals, rebuild our strength, and as soon as the Yankees are gone we can roll over their puppet government and Iraq will be ours." Not really the sort of signal we need to be sending.

Shays should have taken a page from Lieberman's book and stood by his position instead of giving way to the cut and run faction running rampant in Connecticut. With Republicans like him, what do we need Democrats like Lieberman for?

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Politics, Republicans

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 04:32 AM | No Comments | Add Comment