Brownback Opposes Escalation, But Attacks Senate Resolution Against Bush Plan

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) has come out against President Bush’s escalation plan. He recently said:

I do not believe that sending more troops to Iraq is the answer. … Iraq requires a political rather than a military solution.

On ABC’s This Week, Brownback explained that after talking to Iraqi and U.S. military leaders on a recent trip to Iraq, he was convinced that the escalation plan could not succeed. But when pressed by host George Stephanopoulos on whether he would register his opposition by supporting a bipartisan Senate resolution opposing Bush’s plan, Brownback said he would not. Instead, he attacked the resolution, arguing, “That just says, OK, we’re against this.” Watch it:

Full transcript:

STEPHANOPOULOS: But last week, you spoke out against the idea. What changed?

BROWNBACK: I went to Baghdad. I was there last week. I was there the week before last, rather. I met with the military officials. I met with the Sunni and Shiite leaders, none of which really supported the idea.

And then, the capstone on all of it was, I went to the Kurdish region. I went to Erbil and I met with Mr. Barzani, the head of the Kurdish region. And I asked him, will you send Kurdish troops, your Kurdish troops, into Baghdad to quell the violence? And he said, why should I get in the middle of a Sunni-Shiite fight?

STEPHANOPOULOS: I thought they were doing that, though.

BROWNBACK: He’s not sending the core of his troops. And I asked him, would you send — if you were me, would you vote for more troops? And he said, I don’t see why you would do that at this point in time?

[...]

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, Senator Hagel has joined the Democrats in introducing a resolution to oppose the president’s sending of more troops. Will you vote for that?

BROWNBACK: No. That doesn’t give us a route forward. That just says, OK, we’re against this. What I think we really have got to do today is sit down with Democrat leaders and say, what will you support?