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To: PROLIFE who wrote (10271)	8/4/2006 1:58:31 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Respond to of 14758

Hagel: Begin Iraq withdrawal within 6 months BY DON WALTON / Lincoln Journal Star The United States needs to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within the next six months, Sen. Chuck Hagel said Thursday, rather than ratcheting up its military commitment now. With Iraq exploding in sectarian violence and “moving closer and closer to a straight-out civil war,” Hagel said, the Bush administration’s decision to transfer nearly 5,000 additional U.S. troops into Baghdad is “only going to make it worse for us.” In the end, he said, “feed(ing) more American troop fodder into the fight” could result in “even a worse defeat.” Iraqis are “going to have to step up” and assume responsibility for defense of their country, Hagel told a telephone news conference from Washington. Hagel said he believes increasing U.S. troop strength in Iraq by extending military tours while cycling in new troops is a mistake. “Eventually, we need to start pulling people out of there,” said the Nebraska Republican, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. With violence “out of control” and militias in charge, Hagel said, U.S. troops increasingly are “seen as occupiers.” If Iraqis themselves do not assume control of their country’s fate, he said, the nation may dissolve into a civil war that splits it into three countries. It’s also possible Iraq may evolve into some kind of Islamic republic, he said. Asked what the United States could do, Hagel said: “Ask the president. Ask Secretary (of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld. They’re the ones who got us into this.” Meanwhile, at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Nebraska’s Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson questioned Rumsfeld about U.S. conditions for remaining in Iraq. Nelson suggested a system of measurable goals to determine when Iraq’s government is capable of securing and stabilizing the country. Rumsfeld told Nelson a committee has been established by U.S. officials with the Iraqi government to “address the very issues that you’re raising.” In remarks addressed to Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Nelson said he’d like to see an approach different from either setting a date for withdrawal or offering an open-ended U.S. commitment. “Is there a tipping point in terms of their ability or inability to get to a certain level so that they can deal with sectarian violence on their own, or the Sunni insurgency, to govern themselves, but also to secure themselves?” Nelson asked. A determinant would be the number of combat-capable Iraqi troops and trained Iraqi police, he said. “I guess I would feel more comfortable if we could establish some sort of metrics to know what it takes in terms of percentage, numbers and what it would take in terms of time,” Nelson said.