White House plays down Lugar's Iraq speech

by Frank James

The White House took an "everyone move along, there's nothing to see here," approach today towards Sen. Richard Lugar's speech last night in which the Indiana Republican said the U.S. surge in Iraq was against the national interest and that U.S. forces should be intelligently drawn down.

Based on what White House press secretary Tony Snow said, it certainly didn't mark a "turning point" as Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) the Senate Majority Leader, said today. The talking point was that Lugar was basically repeating what he had said in the past.

Q Were you surprised by the timing at all, that he chose last night to do it?

MR. SNOW: I'd ask him. I mean, I -- we certainly were not aware that there were -- you know, we were not made directly aware that there would be a statement at that time. But again, it's consistent with things he said.

Q I'm thinking, from what I heard in the gaggle and from the shrug right now, that you don't find this very significant.

MR. SNOW: I don't know. If you -- look, Dick Lugar is a serious guy. So obviously you take it seriously.

But on the other hand -- again, he voted against the -- you know, he voted against the surge. He is somebody who has had reservations. We take seriously his point of view because he is a serious guy.

On the other hand, we also take seriously the efforts and the advice that the president has gotten from his commanders on the ground and also the continuing cooperation not only with the commanders on the ground but also Ambassador Crocker and working with our colleagues in the Iraqi government.

Q But most Republicans have said they're willing to wait till September. I mean, obviously you need political support to continue with this.

MR. SNOW: Yeah.

Q A lot of Republicans have said they'll wait till September. But you've got Dick Lugar last night saying, "The United States has violated some basic national security precepts during our military engagement in Iraq. We have overestimated what the military can achieve."

MR. SNOW: Well, again, we -- obviously we disagree with him on that. On the other hand, we also agree with him when he was taking some of the critics to task for some of the things that they have said. Here is -- like -- it is a complex situation of war. Duh.

On the other hand, we also know that there are going to be reports to Congress in the middle of July and the middle of September about how things are going --

Q So are you worried this is yet another voice and the trickle will eventually burst the dam?

MR. SNOW: No. But again, it's -- no, but this is Dick Lugar repeating a position.

I think if you take a look at what his own people have said, they said it's consistent I think if you take a look at what his own people have said, they said it's consistent with what he said in the past.

Q But Tony, doesn't it move the debate back to now instead of waiting to September by Senator Lugar coming out right now, and it's a focus on this in a way that you don't want people to focus?

MR. SNOW: No. What we've been trying to do is to be straight with everybody about the difficulties of proceeding, in trying to make sure that people are getting information in a timely fashion about what's going on. Again, we have just completed getting the forces on the ground. Some of them are still getting integrated into units. They are working with their Iraqi counterparts. And you know the points that we've been making in recent days, Martha.

But this is not a time for a snap judgment, but on the other hand, we do expect that people are going to be asking tough questions about militarily how is it going, what's going on in the civil side, what's going on in terms of the political situation in Iraq, how are the Iraqis doing.

We believe that democracy can, must and will succeed in Iraq. We know that the Iraqi people are the ones who are going to have to shoulder the heaviest burden on that. And it is the purpose of American policy to build capability at all levels so that the Iraqis can do so.