Warner: Begin troop withdrawal by Christmas

Virginia's senior Senator, John Warner continues to defy the Chimperator's efforts to silence anyone who does not sign on to the myth that things are going fine in Iraq. Not only does Warner have integrity, but based on his own years in the military, his service as Secretary of the Navy, and other past positions, he sees members of the military as more that mere cyphers to be played with. Many politicians give lip service to caring about our troops, but Warner truly means it. I have heard him speak many times and talked with him one-on-one. I am convinced it's not lip service with him. Here are a few highlights from MSNBC's story (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20410739/):

NEW YORK - Sen. John Warner said Thursday President Bush should start bringing home some troops by Christmas to show the Baghdad government that the U.S. commitment in Iraq is not open-ended. The move puts the prominent Republican at odds with the president, who says conditions on the ground should dictate deployments. Warner, R-Va., said the troop withdrawals are needed because Iraqi leaders have failed to make substantial political progress, despite an influx of U.S. troops initiated by Bush earlier this year.

“We simply cannot as a nation stand and continue to put our troops at continuous risk of loss of life and limb without beginning to take some decisive action,” he told reporters after a White House meeting with Bush’s top aides. Warner’s new position is a sharp challenge to a wartime president that will undoubtedly color the upcoming Iraq debate on Capitol Hill. Next month, Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are expected to brief members on the war’s progress.

Who’s the more astute student of Vietnam War history — President Bush or Sen. John Warner, R-Va.? Warner, the octogenarian GOP Senate powerbroker who served as Navy secretary under President Nixon during the Vietnam War, called Thursday for Bush to begin withdrawing some U.S. troops from Iraq — he used the figure of 5,000 — so that they could be home by Christmas.