Submitted by Mark E. Suall, Jun 28, 2007 08:58

Senator Lugar's policy switch regarding Iraq is very disappointing.After all,Senator Lugar made the threat of international terrorism the central theme of his 2000 presidential campaign.The fact that polls demonstrated little worry about terrorism among voters did not disuade him.Yet today he defends his change of heart vis a vis Iraq by pointing to polls demonstrating weak public support for the war.And all along I thought the war was about the long term security interests of the United States.Silly me.

Some republicans are clearly uneasy with the political monkey on their backs they believe the war has become.They believe that if we could just extricate ourselves from Iraq before the presidential elections next year the democrats will be denied their central policy theme.Republicans would then supposedly be free to run on the basis of the strong economy and all things not Iraq and would cruise to electoral victory.

Should early withdrawal lead the unstable Iraqi government to fall they may well regret their poll driven change of heart.The humantarian and political crises that would likely result might very well be catastophoic enough to compel the US to return to Iraq yet again.Unfortunately,not one senator who has called for early withdrawal of our forces has addressed that part of the equation.

Worse yet current frontrunners for the republican nomination are unanimous in their support for the "surge".If the party changes course on Iraq the current potential nominees would be left with the options of flip-flopping or the even more untenable position of opposing a withdrawal already underway.And should the worst come to pass and Iraq were to collapse into a dantesque inferno republicans can expect to bear the blame for starting the war in the first place.

In short,those republicans who see quick withdrawal from Iraq as the best path to another republican presidency are chasing a fool's gold.In truth the polls will mean little until the presidential nominees present their policy ideas to the voters.Republicans today would be far wiser to stand with their front running candidates,stay the course in Iraq.and let the voters decide next year.And in the meantime,Sen.Lugars' pessimism notwithstanding,the "surge" might actually succeed.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.