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White House urges patience on Iraq |
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By Klaus Marre
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Posted: 07/06/07 04:00 PM [ET] |
Reacting to recent defections by senior Republicans publicly withdrawing their support for President Bush’s Iraq strategy, the White House Friday urged lawmakers to be patient and withhold judgment on the troop surge until September.
“We do want senators and House members to be patient enough to look forward to the reporting from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters.
Fratto argued that it is “way too early to give any kind of definitive grade on how the surge is doing.” He acknowledged that the White House cannot say at this point that the troop increase has succeeded, but also argued that no one can say definitively that it has been a failure.
The White House spokesman faced a barrage of questions in the wake of Sen. Pete Domenici’s (R-N.M.) announcement Thursday that he wants to see a change in the Iraq strategy. Following Sens. Richard Lugar (Ind.) and George Voinovich (Ohio), the senator is the third Republican member of the upper chamber who, within the last month, has called for a change in the Iraq strategy. Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) this week also voiced his disagreement with the administration on the issue.
Fratto praised Domenici as a “thoughtful senator” who has the ear of the White House, but he also pointed out that the administration disagrees with him on the issue of progress being made in Iraq.
The Bush spokesman also reiterated that the White House understands and shares the frustrations of lawmakers who feel that stabilization is not progressing quickly enough in Iraq. |
