The Nation - GOP front-runners hedge bets on military strategy
WASHINGTON — As President Bush struggles to maintain support in Congress for his Iraq "surge" strategy, the three leading Republican presidential contenders have been quietly backing away from any commitment to continue the buildup.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson have made it clear that their original support for the escalation does not mean they are signed on to keeping the current 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, even as they have laid out hawkish positions on other aspects of foreign policy.
Their recent moves underscore the president's growing isolation on Iraq as the GOP begins searching for a post-Bush foreign policy. The shifts also distance the three top contenders from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the former front-runner who Tuesday reaffirmed his commitment to the troop escalation.
With doubts about Iraq policy growing even among conservative voters, "there's very little percentage in getting too far in front on the issue," said John J. Pitney Jr., a Claremont McKenna College government studies professor. "If you put all your chips on the surge, you could end up a big loser."
As Congress resumed debate on bills that could force a withdrawal of combat troops, Bush signaled that he had no intention to yield to pressure from Capitol Hill. In a speech in Cleveland, he said issues related to troop strength would "be decided by our commanders on the ground, not by political figures in Washington, D.C."
He called on lawmakers to give Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior commander in Iraq, "a chance to come back and tell us whether his strategy is working, and then we can work together on a way forward." Petraeus is due to deliver a progress report in September.
Of the leading GOP contenders -- all of whom endorsed the original decision to wage war on Saddam Hussein -- Romney has been the most candid in expressing the view that the surge may not work.
If the fall assessment finds the surge is working, "then we'll pursue this strategy and, if it's successful, start bringing our troops home," the former Massachusetts governor said during a campaign appearance in Iowa this month.
"If it's not," he said, "then we'll have to take alternative strategies."
Though Romney's top rivals have said less on the subject, they too have left themselves room to maneuver.
Thompson, in a June interview with the Hoover Institution, said he worried that a wholesale withdrawal could have "an awful, awful lot of downside" -- risking lasting damage to U.S. standing.
