Dick Lugar: “I respond briefly to my colleague that I believe the President must begin to offer that leadership, that he must begin…”

“I respond briefly to my colleague that I believe the President must begin to offer that leadership, that he must begin to offer the strategy. I find it unacceptable if we were, as critics of the President, simply to note that he has failed to do so. In other words, it seems to me there is about this war a sense of unreality. Clearly, if we had been in the so-called cold war period and we were at war with another country at that point, and the President apparently did not have an adequate strategy and we were losing, it would not be a useful question to ask why the President hasn't asked for what he needs. We have to say at that point that the President needs to ask. We respectfully request the President to accept some advice and to accept some strategy that we have a responsibility to offer. Simply left to an inadequate President, history would condemn him, but we would lose and the country would suffer grievous harm. That is our predicament in this situation. The President clearly hasn't asked for the authority, the arms, or whatever he needs. We are saying he needs to ask, and he needs to do so rapidly. We cannot sit around and simply wish that he did so and then lament that he failed to ask. We have a responsibility to act along with him. I hope and pray that he will do that. I think the President, in this conversation the Senator cited, indicated he could ask General Shelton and General Shelton could produce a plan.”