Webb, Graham face off over Iraq

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Jim Webb (D-Va.) quarreled Sunday over President Bush’s Iraq policy and how much say lawmakers should have in shaping a new strategy.

“We’re not going to let politicians deploy our troops based on the polling at the moment,” Graham said. “And I think the biggest mistake we can make is misunderstand our enemy.” Graham added that Iran and al Qaeda are “killing Americans and trying to destabilize this government because they fear a moderate form of government.”

{mosads}Webb countered, “al Qaeda didn’t come to Iraq to try to destroy democracy.

“That’s a very, very flimsy democracy [in Iraq]. We all recognize that. Al Qaeda came to Iraq because the United States in is Iraq.”    

The two, who have been on opposite sides of the Iraq debate, exchanged their verbal blows on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”        

Webb strongly criticized the war, calling it a “botched occupation” and blamed the Bush administration for failing to propose “the right diplomatic formula.”

“All of the things that people like myself were predicting would happen if we went into Iraq are exactly the sort of things that the president and the small group of people who have sort of rallied around him are saying will happen if we leave,” Webb added. “We were saying that Iran would be empowered. We were saying that international terrorism would be empowered. We were saying the reputation of the United States would be diminished around the world and we were saying the region would become more unstable.”

Graham vehemently disagreed with Webb’s remarks and said “the worst thing we can do as a country is when we’re close to getting it right is to withdraw because of the next election.”

Graham added that “the surge has been in place for two weeks and…it’s made enormous progress,” which enlisted a quick retort from Webb.

“We didn’t do that in two weeks,” Webb said.

“The president announced the surge in January,” Webb added. “He said that by the end of this year all the provinces of Iraq would be under control of Iraqis. That’s clearly not going to happen.

“I am not going to let any politician take the place of a general,” Graham said.

As host Tim Russert tried to get the conversation under control, he asked Webb to respond to Graham’s assertions.        

“Lindsey’s had a hard month,” Webb said. “There’s people who have had to gather around the president on the immigration bill, on this bill — I know it’s been tough. [But] we’ve got to bring people together and get a diplomatic solution in place here.”

But the civility between Webb and Graham quickly disintegrated again. Graham asserted that soldiers continue to return to Iraq because they believe they can beat al Qaeda and win the war.

“This is something I really take objection to…politicians…” Webb countered.

“Let them win…” Graham interjected.

“Can I speak?” Webb demanded. “It's politicians who try to put their political views into the mouths of soldiers. You can look at poll after poll and the political views of the United States military are no different than the country at large.”

“Have you been to Iraq?” Graham responded.

“You haven’t been to Iraq, Lindsey,” Webb riposted. “You go see the dog and pony shows, that’s what congressmen do.”