Mike Levin: “According to our own State Department, the key threat to our effort in Iraq is the failure of the Iraqi political…”

“According to our own State Department, the key threat to our effort in Iraq is the failure of the Iraqi political leaders to reach a political settlement. Senior military commanders [U.S. commanders] now portray the intransigence of Iraq's Shiite-dominated government as the key threat facing the U.S. effort in Iraq rather than al-Qaida terrorists, Sunni insurgents or Iranian-backed militias. What they are saying is that it is not the Iranian-backed militias, it is not the Sunni insurgents, it is not the al-Qaida terrorists; the key threat facing the U.S. effort in Iraq, according to our State Department, is 'the intransigence of Iraq's Shiite-dominated government.' We have to break that intransigence. How can Congress do it? How do we put pressure on the Iraqi political leaders? At a minimum, by at least expressing our view that U.S. forces in Iraq should transition to a more supporting and a less direct role, with a goal--a goal, just a goal--of completing that transition by the end of 2008. The message the Iraqi political leaders need to hear is that Congress has lost patience with them, as have the American people.”