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Republican Senator John Sununu
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  Republican Senator John Sununu just returned from a weekend trip to Iraq where he says the goal of having American troops out by the end of next year is attainable, but cautions that this is a goal, not a benchmark. We'll talk with Senator Sununu about Iraq as well as his call for the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales over the firing of several Federal Prosecutors. Laura's guest is U.S. Senator John E. Sununu, a Republican from Bedford who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He joins us for the first half of the show. In the second half, we'll hear from Dean Spiliotes, Director of Research for the NH Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College with the latest on the political wranglings over Iraq and the growing tension between Congress and the White House over the firing of eight federal prosecutors.
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Senator Sununu:
We spoke earlier today on The Exchange on NHPR, where you continued to evade my questions. The National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq ( http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20070202_release.pdf ) describes a quagmire where US defeat is essentially a foregone conclusion. The NIE states that the situation in Iraq is "gradually declining," but could "rapidly deteriorate" as a result of a variety of potential triggering events which the US has little ability to prevent.
There is no realistic path towards peaceful reconciliation under US military occupation. The occupation undermines the legitimacy of the Iraqi government. The Bush administration has actually been dictating Iraqi government policy for US economic interest.
The AP reported on March 13 ( http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/13/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Oil.php ) that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki fears being ousted by the US if he doesn't pass a draft oil bill by June. The Inter-Press Service reports ( http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36754 ) that this oil law will effectively give control of Iraq's oil to foreign corporations for decades to come, and "is so skewed in favor of foreign firms that it could end up heightening political tensions in the Arab nation and spreading instability."
America is the figurative bull in the china shop. We charged in and wrecked the place, and are now guarding the store on one hand while looting it with the other. The longer the US occupation continues, the more violent and unjust the eventual outcome will be, and the more hatred for America we will sow ( http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40716F635550C778EDDA008...
404482 ).
How many people have to die in this occupation before you will see that the cost is too high?
If the occupation continues in the name of Democracy, why do the vast majority of Iraqis favor immediate US withdrawal ( http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1833 )?
[For the full version of this letter, see http://nhindymedia.org/newswire/display/4183/index.php ]
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