Republican Gordon Smith ripped Bush over Iraq on the floor of the Senate Thursday: Sen. Smith: And I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it come
December 9, 2006

gordonsmith.jpg Republican Gordon Smith ripped Bush over Iraq on the floor of the Senate Thursday:

Sen. Smith: And I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes for supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal"

On THIS WEEK, Smith dug a bit deeper to clarify his remarks:

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SMITH: I said it -- you can use any adjective you want, George, but I have long believed, in a military context, when you do the same thing over and over again without a clear strategy for victory at the expense of your young people in arms, that is dereliction, that is deeply immoral.

Transcript via ABC below the fold:

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... a stunning change of heart in the Senate.
Senators Gordon Smith and Joe Biden join us live.

SMITH: Waking up the other morning and turning on the news and
hearing that yet another 10 of our soldiers died the same way that
several thousand have...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Wednesday.

SMITH: Wednesday -- through roadside bombs. And I went from
steamed to boiled. And I felt I had to speak out, because if we're
going to be there, let's win; if we're not, let's at least fight the
war on terror in a way that makes sense.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You said in that speech the current policy may
be criminal.

SMITH: I said it -- you can use any adjective you want, George,
but I have long believed, in a military context, when you do the same
thing over and over again without a clear strategy for victory at the
expense of your young people in arms, that is dereliction, that is
deeply immoral.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Yet, you also say the Baker commission report is
a recipe for retreat. So what are you for?

SMITH: I am for fighting the war on terror against jihadists.
When you get to being policeman in a sectarian civil war, that is not
what the American people enlisted for. That's not what I voted for.

I voted for toppling a chief terrorist and tyrant, ridding him of
weapons of mass destruction but not for being target practice in the
middle of a sectarian strife that we see, where hundreds of bodies a
day are pulled out of the Tigris River, Sunnis and Shias who are
butchering each other, really, over the question of who has the
rightful successor to Mohammed.

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