Rudy Supports The Troop Increase
Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani released this paper statement tonight on the president's Iraq speech:
“Success or failure in Iraq is not a matter of partisan politics but a matter of national security. All Americans should be hoping, praying and offering constructive advice for the success of our troops in Iraq and for those Iraqis seeking to create a stable and decent government. In that spirit, I support the President’s increase in troops. Even more importantly – I support the change in strategy – the focus on security and the emphasis on a political and economic solution as being even more important than a military solution.I would add to it a heavy emphasis on measuring results and having the flexibility of adapting our strategy to make certain we restore security as quickly as possible.
We must not wait for a year or more to measure the success of our strategy but must develop a system to do so monthly weekly even daily so we give our troops the necessary support to succeed.”
As misguided as the Bush/McCain Surge Doctrine is, Rudy's suggestion that somehow the federal government set up a daily reporting cycle under which the military would be required to cede daily review of a given military operation to civiliam oversight, would be civilian micromanagement of the military in the worst way.
This is another indication that Guiliani has not the slightest clue that serving as President of the United States and being Commander in Chief is entirely different from serving as mayor of a city, even the greatest city on earth, and serving as its "Cop in chief". If as it seems, his entire campaign is based on being in that job on September 11, 2001, he will continue to be a non-starter as a Presidential candidate.