GOP: Troop cuts likely to help McCain

GOP Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid could receive a boost if additional troops are withdrawn from Iraq this fall, according to his Republican colleagues.

The Arizona senator’s allies said Gen. David Petraeus’s remarks Thursday that he expects to recommend more troop withdrawals this fall would validate McCain’s arguments that last year’s troop surge was needed to stabilize Iraq.

{mosads}“The decisions John made to argue for policy change are going to be seen as having made sense,” close McCain ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told The Hill. “He’ll get credit for having changed strategy in a way that produced results.”

Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that he expects in September to recommend additional reductions in U.S. troop levels in Iraq before he takes over Central Command, where he will oversee troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He did not specify how large the cuts would be, but is expected to offer another assessment on Iraq troop levels about a month before the presidential election.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said that Democrats could take credit for Petraeus’s statement and said their flag-bearer, be it Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) or Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), could also benefit from the prediction.

“We have been putting pressure on [Petraeus] for reductions so Obama or Clinton can say we have been pressing to have the Iraqis take responsibility,” said Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “He is finally responding not to just what is on the ground, but the pressure he is getting from the American people.”

Despite fears about an economic slowdown, the issue of Iraq has remained front and center in the campaign. McCain resurrected his campaign for the GOP nomination with his support for the surge, but was recently criticized for predicting in a speech that the war in Iraq would be won by 2013 and that most troops will be returning home.

Democrats have portrayed a McCain presidency as a third Bush term. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a close Obama supporter, on Thursday said McCain’s endorsement of a long-term Iraq commitment means that he would continue Bush’s policies.

Durbin also noted that so far, there have not been any significant reductions in troops in Iraq. “Until there is, I believe people will be convinced that this president will leave office in a terrible situation,” he said.

Graham said additional troop withdrawals would give McCain ammunition against Obama, the leading Democratic presidential contender who has been pressing for a quick Iraq withdrawal.

“It would be a two-front approach: ‘You were wrong about how to fix Iraq and you are wrong about what to do in the future,’ ” Graham said.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) echoed Graham’s comments.

“Just two years ago when things were not going well in Iraq and we all knew the Democratic team was hiding under the table and talking about precipitous withdrawal, [McCain] put his entire political career on the line for what he believed was in the American interest,” Sessions said.

Levin said that it was a “pleasant surprise” to hear that Petraeus is planning on more troop cuts. The general gave him the news in the senator’s office a couple days ago, Levin said.

Levin said he did not believe Petraeus’s announcement was made with an eye toward presidential politics. “He is making the announcement with his change of command in mind,” Levin said. “It won’t help or hurt [the presidential candidates] either way.”

Under the Bush administration’s “surge” policy — which Petraeus was instrumental in implementing — troop levels reached 165,000 last fall.

Earlier this year, Petraeus recommended a reduction of 30,000 troops by July. The general said there should then be a pause in reductions to evaluate the situation on the ground. But on Thursday Petraeus suggested additional cuts to the 30,000 already withdrawing.

Some Democratic leaders took Petraeus’s statements with a grain of salt, and warned his assessments may not pan out in the fall.

“It may not even be accurate,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan (N.D.), the Democratic Conference chairman. “Obviously, the president is going to call the shots and of course the White House has its own agenda.”