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TIME’S UP ON ESCALATION

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They said ‘six months’ — six months ago…

BILL KRISTOL

Key Quote: It’s so irresponsible that they can’t be quiet for six or nine months and say the president has made a decision, we’re not going to change that decision, we’re not going to cut off funds and insist on the troops coming back, so let’s give it a chance to work. You really wonder, do they want it to work or not? I really wonder that. I hate to say this about the Democrats. They’re people I know personally and I respect some of them. Do they want it to succeed or not? [Fox News, 1/21/07]

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CONDOLEEZZA RICE

Key Quote: Well, I think this will unfold — I think in the next few months you’re going to know whether or not this is working. They bring their forces in starting February 1st. They bring in another set of forces February 15th. And I think from then on you’ll have a good sense of how this is unfolding. So it’s not as if there is a date, at six months we’ll know and then we have to do something dramatic. [Time Magazine, 1/12/07]

TIM RUSSERT

Key Quote: Unless considerable progress is made in Iraq in a relatively short time, you will see Republicans crossing over and joining Democrats in challenging his Iraq strategy in a bipartisan way. This is a dead serious six months we’re approaching. [Meet the Press, 1/10/07]

DAVID BROOKS

Key Quote: The surge will either be successful by mid-August, in which case Republicans and Democrats will probably want to stay, or it will be unsuccessful, and Republicans and Democrats will probably want to go. [The News Hour, 2/23/07]

ROBERT GATES

Key Quote: Well, as I indicated, we’re going to know pretty early on whether the Iraqis are meeting their military commitments, in terms of being able to go into all neighborhoods, in terms of the Iraqis being in the lead and carrying out the leadership and the fighting, and for there not to be political interference in the military operations that are going forward. As I say, this is going to unfold over a period of time, and so I think that as I indicated in my remarks, before very many American soldiers have been sent to Iraq, we’ll have pretty good early indications of their performance. We’ll have to see, in terms of the length of time. It’s really hard to say at this point. It’s viewed as a temporary surge. [Briefing, 1/11/07]

BILL O’REILLY

Key Quote:We can’t force these people to stop killing each other. They’re either going to do it or they’re not, but now they know. Now they know. They’ve got six months and that’s it. [The O’Reilly Factor, 1/24/07]

MICHAEL O’HANLON

Key Quote: Rather than deny funding for Bush’s initiatives, Congress should provide it now — but only for fiscal 2007 (meaning through September). By that point, or even the August congressional recess, we should know if the surge is showing promise. [Washington Post, 1/14/07]

LINDSEY GRAHAM

Key Quote:Here is what my take on things are. That in the next six months, they can’t take over security without American help, but in the next six months they can have an agreement sharing the oil revenue with the Sunnis. They can have local and provincial elections that would empower Sunnis and Kurds, and they could do a great step forward, in terms of disarming the militia. And they could help us fight Iranian agents within Iraq. [CNN, 1/31/07]

MITCH MCCONNELL

Key Quote: I don’t think we want to put a timetable on it. But everybody understands that this needs to succeed, and it needs to succeed soon. The definition of success being a capital city calm enough for the government to engage in the kind of political compromises that need to be made. It’s pretty hard to engage in political compromise when bombs are going off everywhere. So you have to have some degree of calm before any of this has a chance to work, and it needs to work sometime soon. [Face The Nation, 1/27/07]

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

Key Quote: And I think we ought to give him and the president the benefit of the gap — of the doubt, give them six months and see if it can be controlled. [Fox News, 1/12/07]

JON KYL

Key Quote: The strategies that you’ve heard discussed here today are either strategies for failure — in other words, if we’ve already lost the war, then obviously we ought to be leaving today, not wait for another six months. … There are a whole variety of things that are added to this new strategy that should make it succeed. [Meet the Press, 1/14/07]

FRED BARNES

Key Quote: If Petraeus achieves a breakthrough in pacifying Baghdad and then in controlling insurgent-dominated Anbar province, the war opponents must stand down. If they refuse to acknowledge success and cause a repeat of the Vietnam calamity, they should be held accountable. This time, self-inflicted defeat should not be met with silence. [The Weekly Standard, 2/5/07]