Dec. 5. 2006 - In a surprise twist in the debate over Iraq, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (Democrat), the soon-to-be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a stepped up effort to dismantle the militias.
The soft-spoken Texas Democrat was an early opponent of the Iraq war and voted against the October 2002 resolution authorizing President Bush to invade that country. That dovish record got prominently cited last week when Speaker designate Nancy Pelosi chose Reyes as the new head of the intelligence panel.
But in an interview with NEWSWEEK on Tuesday, Reyes pointedly distanced himself from many of his Democratic colleagues who have called for fixed timetables for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Coming on the eve of tomorrow's recommendations from the bipartisan Baker-Hamilton commission, Reyes's comments were immediately cited by some Iraq war analysts as fresh evidence that the intense debate over U.S. policy may be more fluid than many have expected.
We're not going to have stability in Iraq until we eliminate those militias, those private armies, Reyes said. We have to consider the need for additional troops to be in Iraq, to take out the militias and stabilize Iraq. We certainly can't leave Iraq and run the risk that it becomes [like] Afghanistan? was before the 2001 invasion by the United States.
