20 August 2007
Returning from a fact-finding mission to Iraq, Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich) had somewhat differing views. They both agreed that there were some positive results of the surge, such as some stability in the streets of Baghdad, but Levin feels the surge has failed in its primary objective to allow the Iraqi leaders reach political settlements which they have failed to do. From the looks of things this is not going to happen soon.
The surge has placed undue stress on our troops with many being deployed over and over with shorter periods at home between tours. This stress is leading to more and more suicides both in the field and after they return home. Over 40 soldiers have killed themselves in the first half of 2007 alone. This is unacceptable. The ones who have done multiple tours should be brought home at once. If these are combat troops, replace them with Iraqi Army members who must be forced to stand up and take over. We’ve been doing training for a long enough period for there to be capable Iraqi soldiers to replace our overworked troops.
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