Doolittle calls for pullback in Iraq

Rep. John Doolittle, questioning whether the Iraq war is worth the continued loss of American lives, said Thursday that U.S. troops should be pulled back from the front lines "as soon as possible" and the fighting should be turned over to Iraqi forces.

Doolittle's remarks, made at a town hall meeting in Rocklin and expanded upon later in a meeting with The Bee's editorial board, underscored a growing shift among Republican lawmakers away from the Iraq policies of President Bush.

In this case, the criticism came from an archconservative Republican who had campaigned with Bush and long repeated the president's refrain that Iraq is a central front in the war on terror.

But Thursday, Doolittle characterized the war as a "quagmire" and said America should soon step back to a training and advisory role for Iraqi forces.

"We've got to get off the front lines as soon as possible," Doolittle told a gathering at the Rocklin City Hall chambers. "And in my mind, that means something like the end of the year. We just can't continue to tolerate these kinds of losses."

Doolittle added in an interview: "I don't want to keep having our people dying on the front lines. I am increasingly convinced that we never are going to succeed in actually ending people dying (in Iraq). I think it's going to be a constant conflict ... and if that is going to happen ... it needs to be the Iraqis dying and not the Americans."

Doolittle's comments come after Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, issued a blunt declaration June 25 that Bush's Iraq plan isn't working and called for withdrawing most American forces.

"My belief is that the majority of my colleagues on the Republican side have become skeptical of all of this," Doolittle told The Bee's editorial board. "And that's a big change."

Doolittle reiterated his position that he opposes setting a timetable to withdraw forces from Iraq. But he said the United States should fall back to serving as "teachers and trainers" working "to get the Iraqi government up to the point where it runs its own military, its own border patrol and its own police forces."

In his most strident criticism of the Iraq conflict, Doolittle said colleagues in Congress -- including an increasing number of Republicans -- believe the war "is something different than we believed it to be. And we're gravely at risk by constantly having our troops exposed."

Doolittle predicted that the anticipated September report by Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, will indicate that a long-term U.S. presence is needed despite the recent troop surge.

But he said Congress' patience is running out.

"If the report comes out and says we need another five years, they (U.S. forces) don't have another five years," Doolittle said. "They don't have five years to get the Iraqi government up and running. They need to do that in a matter of months."

In comments to the editorial board, Doolittle expressed support for Bush's decision this week to commute the 30-month prison sentence of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. But he questioned whether Bush went far enough in his decision to leave Libby's conviction -- and $250,000 fine -- intact.

"I thought the commutation was the president's right to do," said Doolittle, who himself is facing a federal investigation into his ties to imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "I don't know why he didn't just pardon him outright."

He added: "It's sort of like they (the White House) tried to find a middle ground. I don't know if they satisfied anyone."

About the writer:

• The Bee's Peter Hecht can be reached at (916) 326-5539 or phecht@sacbee.com.