Senators Assess Iraq Strategy, Troop Presence

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• GWEN IFILL:

  In Washington, the United States Senate is preparing for another week of debate on Iraq policy. This time, they are talking about exit strategy.

  Two key senators who will be involved in that debate join us now. Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine supports adopting the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. She made her second visit to Iraq this May. And Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who just returned from his 10th trip to Iraq, is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

  Senator Snowe, is the debate that we are now seeing unfold — we just heard Michael Gordon talk a lot about the violence on the ground. Is the debate that we're now seeing unfold in Congress representing a sea change of some kind?

  SEN. OLYMPIA SNOWE (R), Maine: I think absolutely, and it's something that needs to happen. I think everybody is beginning to recognize the realities that exist, both politically and militarily, but primarily because the Iraqi government has failed to achieve its political objectives that they themselves had established, even their own deadlines almost a year ago they had failed to accomplish. And it clearly demonstrates their inability to reconcile those differences that are absolutely critical to engender the confidence of the Iraqi people.

  And, hence, I think you're seeing the kind of sectarian warfare that continues to pervade much of Iraq and, ultimately, putting our men and women at continued risk and, as we've seen, a high loss of life over the last three months.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Senator Reed, that high loss of life — just this past weekend, at least 200 people, more than that. And you just returned from Iraq, so I wonder if you have a sense, Senator Reed, whether this is an issue which is something that's going to change the state of the debate now on the floor of the Senate.

  SEN. JACK REED (D), Rhode Island: Well, I think definitely. I think Senator Snowe is right on target in the sense that there are several factors that are prompting this changed dynamic.

  First is the increasing concern in the American public about the direction of policy in Iraq and increasing demands that we change that policy. Second, there is a reality that operationally on the ground we cannot sustain 160,000 troops indefinitely. In fact, by next spring, the size of our military forces will require reduction in any case.

  And then, third, as Michael Gordon pointed out in his report, the tactical momentum of the additional troops has not translated into political momentum. We're not seeing the kind of reconciliation, we're not seeing the kind of institutional governance capacity that's necessary.

  And for all these reasons, we have to change the strategy. And I think that requires defining the missions much more precisely: counterterrorism, force protection, and training of the Iraqi military forces. And in doing that, we can begin — and I hope we can begin soon — to reduce the overall number of personnel we have in Iraq.