Watson Coleman: “I was in Iraq this weekend, and I was there in December, right before Christmas, with my friend, Senator Nelson of…”

“I was in Iraq this weekend, and I was there in December, right before Christmas, with my friend, Senator Nelson of Florida. Our meetings at that time took place in the shadows of the 2006 Congressional elections and in the wake of the much anticipated Iraq Study Group report. During each of our visits at that time, the atmosphere exuded a feeling of transition, a desire to get out of the constant struggle of lateral movement to a feeling of longing for a new strategy, long overdue in Iraq. On January 10, we learned the details of that new strategy. It wasn't exactly what many of us expected and it raised some particular concerns for me. Two weeks earlier when I was in Iraq, I met with the National Security Adviser for the Prime Minister of Iraq, Dr. al-Rubaie, and he told Senator Nelson and me he didn't think sectarian violence was the biggest problem in Iraq. To express that kind of denial was incredulous. Senator Nelson and I kind of looked at each other. His comments reflected to me at that time that I didn't think the Iraqi Government had the commitment to reconciliation needed to warrant an increase in U.S. forces in Baghdad and in an area wracked by sectarian civil war. So at the time I stated the idea of sending an additional force of 20,000 troops into Baghdad, into the lion's den of sectarian violence without any additional commitment from the Iraqi Government was something I did not feel I could support.”