Republican Walsh (NY-25) Breaks With GOP on Iraq: "We Have Given Enough"

Republican Jim Walsh, who won re-election in 2006 by less than 3,000 votes, is making headlines today.  He has decided to break with the President and his party on Iraq.  Today, we learn that he will be supporting a bill calling for withdrawal from Iraq and will apparently be opposing a blank check as well.

This is huge news, not just for the fact that we have another Republican defection on Iraq, but because Walsh is so far the only Republican to keep his promise about Magical September.  From a May 2007 letter to his constituents:

If Petraeus’ plan is successful, it will be obvious before September.  His judgment should surprise no one.  If it’s not working, we should be prepared to begin withdrawing our soldiers.

And withdrawing our soldiers is exactly what Walsh is now supporting.  After visiting Iraq this weekend, Walsh had this to say:

"Things have not changed substantially in Iraq," Walsh said after returning to Washington Monday. "It's a very, very dangerous place, if not the most dangerous place on Earth. Governance is a serious issue. They are stumbling toward democracy." [...]

"What occurred to me while I was in Iraq is that it's time," Walsh said. "We've done enough. No country has done more than we have for Iraq. The question I kept coming up with is how much do we have to give Iraq to make things work? I think we have given enough."

"We have given enough."  That about sums it all up, doesn't it?

He goes on to say that if the President won't withdraw troops on his own, it's up to Congress to use its power of the purse to do it.

And on yesterday's testimony by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker? Walsh confirms that it waspretty much irrelevant:

"I heard Petraeus," Walsh said. "I agree with much of what he says. But his focus is the military. And as I've said many times before, this will require a political, not a military, solution."

Pssst, Democrats (Blue Dogs, we're looking at you). There's no need to water down your position or offer tepid and ineffective "compromise" bills which do nothing but compromise your principles.   As Walsh's recent reversal proves, withdrawing troops and tying that withdrawal to funding has bipartisan support.  It is the rational position.  It is the necessary position.

After all, as Walsh notes, "we have given enough."