South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn, one of the most respected voices on the Democrat side of the aisle has suggested that his party should wait for General Petraus report and that a favorble report could split the Democrats.

 

 

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday that a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party’s efforts to press for a timetable to end the war.

Clyburn, in an interview with the washingtonpost.com video program PostTalk, said Democrats might be wise to wait for the Petraeus report, scheduled to be delivered in September, before charting next steps in their year-long struggle with President Bush over the direction of U.S. strategy.

Clyburn noted that Petraeus carries significant weight among the 47 members of the Blue Dog caucus in the House, a group of moderate to conservative Democrats. Without their support, he said, Democratic leaders would find it virtually impossible to pass legislation setting a timetable for withdrawal.

While living in South Carolina I had the opportunity to observe Clyburn’s rise on the national stage. He’s a pragmatic and respected lawmaker and has good realtions with republicans.

With the NY Times article by the two Brookings Institute fellows, this statement by Clyburn shows the tide is turning among Democrats as to future operations in Iraq. For the Democrats, it means the hard left is losing to the middle. A good report by Petraus will bring back some wavering republican Senators.

Al Queda reads our newspapers, so this is not good news to them. They were praying for continued American political disputes. The Brookings report yesterday recommended military operations continue into 2008, and Al Queda and Iran are worried that they can sustain themselves that long.

They were hopeful that US political pressure was would prompt withdrawl or at the very least a draw down of forces with the Iraqi Army taking over. This is most likely to prompt more abandonment of Iraq by Al Queda forces. Along with their brutalities and  their murder of Iraqi citizens with bombs, their stealth escape from the area lessens their credibility. And with their safe haven in Pakistan being squeezed, there’s not many places for them to go.