Voinovich Joins Lugar in Calling for U.S. Troops to Return from Iraq

WASHINGTON — Ohio Sen. George Voinovich's decision to become the second Republican senator to call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq in as many days may make it easier for other GOP senators to announce their reservations about the war.

But whether it will impact Bush administration policy is yet to be seen.

"It adds to the pressure on the president, but I'm not sure the president is persuadable," said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the Rothenberg Political Report. "If the president was persuaded by politics, then the 2006 election results would have been a pretty clear message to him."

Voinovich released a letter to President Bush on Tuesday formally calling for the "gradual military disengagement from Iraq" and calling for the Iraqi government and its regional neighbors to take on a greater share of responsibility. He included with it a four-page plan setting out what he called a "responsible" withdrawal from the region — one that puts an emphasis on diplomacy and includes a substantial aid package for Iraq as well as partners such as Jordan and Kuwait, which would be impacted by U.S. troops leaving the region.

Voinovich's letter was sent one day after Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke on the Senate floor and called for a gradual drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq beginning immediately. "In my judgment, the costs and risks of continuing down the current path outweigh the potential benefits that might be achieved," he said. Lugar said he was speaking out before the 2008 elections heat up.

Voinovich, a fellow Foreign Relations committee member, said he was releasing the letter to reinforce Lugar's position. He said the two have discussed the situation in Iraq, including on a Memorial Day recess trip to Slovenia to study the politics of Islam.

Voinovich said he believes the threat from al-Qaida would diminish were Muslims to control the rebuilding of Iraq, and said a U.S. decision to withdraw, with some troops leaving as early as this year, would essentially force nations in the region to step in and help.

His hesitations on Iraq have been building for some time. He opposed the surge in troops earlier this year, but did not support a resolution formally opposing the surge because of his concerns about how the bill was brought to the floor. His concerns have, in part, been fiscal. He suggested imposing a temporary tax to pay for the war and expressed concern that future generations would have to absorb its cost.

But he said he was speaking out now because "it's going to take a great deal of time to put together the type of comprehensive plan I'm talking about. It's not going to take two weeks."

Other GOP senators have expressed concern about the war's conduct, but none as of Tuesday afternoon had gone as far as Lugar and Voinovich. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., told the Associated Press that he expects more Republicans to issue statements about the war after the Senate's July 4 recess. Warner praised Lugar's speech to Congressional Quarterly Magazine, saying, "I hail what he did."

Voinovich has gained a reputation as an occasional maverick in his party, speaking out, for example, against Bush tax cuts that he deemed too high. More notably, he stunned his party, including Lugar, by initially opposing John Bolton's nomination as U.N. ambassador in 2005. Voinovich later voiced support for Bolton, but earned ire from conservatives for his initial balking.

Because of his position as former chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Lugar's speech may have the most impact on fellow members of his caucus, said Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report.

"I think that probably a lot of people are relieved that he did it first and now they have the opportunity to," she said. "It took somebody like Dick Lugar to do it, I think."