THAT’S DEBATABLE:Too early to exit?

As some Republicans appeared to drift away from supporting President Bush’s “surge” strategy in Iraq last week, the president argued that progress has been made and that the military needs more time to secure the country. Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., said, “It’s important that we wait until all the facts are in, in September” before lawmakers seek a change in the president’s strategy. If the Pentagon’s Sept. 15 report on the Iraq war does not show any significant progress, will you support efforts to start withdrawing troops from Iraq or do you think the president should be given more time either way?

I agree with Senator Warner’s comments. We should not make such critical decisions now based on press reports when, in less than 60 days, we’ll have a comprehensive report from our military leaders.

REP. JOHN CAMPBELL

We should give the president’s strategy time to work, and September is too quick, but certainly by the end of the year we should be in a position to start a phased withdrawal of our troops and a phased stepping in of Iraqi troops.

REP. DANA ROHRABACHER