More Republicans Ditch Bush On Iraq War

Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to the president Tuesday stressing the need for a “comprehensive plan for our country’s gradual military disengagement from Iraq.” Voinovich said he thinks a nonmilitary strategy would do more to bring about stability in Iraq.

Voinovich released his letter Tuesday, a day after Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the panel’s top Republican, said in a speech on the senate floor Monday night that Bush’s strategy was not working and urged him “to downsize the US military’s role in Iraq.”

“The longer we delay the planning for a redeployment, the less likely it is to be successful,” said Lugar, who plans to meet later this week with Stephen Hadley, Bush’s national security adviser.

“Our course in Iraq we have lost contact with our vital national-security interests in the Middle East and beyond,” Lugar said, expressing serious doubts about the president’s policy and disappointment with the highly partisan debate in Washington over the war which has taken a toll of more than 3,560 US soldiers after four years of combat.

However, neither senator indicated that they would support a Democratic legislation to force the president to withdraw most US combat forces.