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Biden: U.S. troop 'surge' can't be stopped

Jan. 7, 2007 at 2:36PM

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., says he will do whatever he can to oppose a "surge" in U.S. troops sent to Iraq, but doubts anyone can prevent it.
      Biden, a Democratic presidential contender for 2008, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., appeared on NBC News' "Meet the Press" Sunday.
      "There's not much I can do about it -- not much anybody can do about it," Biden said. President Bush is "commander in chief. If he surges another 20 (thousand), 30 (thousand), or whatever number he's going to into Baghdad, it will be a tragic mistake, in my view, but as a practical matter, there is no way to say, 'Mr. President, stop.'"
      Biden, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he would hold hearings on Iraq policy and introduce a "resolution of disapproval" in the Senate.
      He also said he believes it would unconstitutional for Congress to try to put a cap on U.S. troops in Iraq.
      Graham supports the idea of an increase in U.S. troops, and said Sunday, "All I ask of my Republican colleagues, Democratic colleagues and the nation is just to hear the president out ... Where do we agree as a nation? That a failed stay in Iraq is disaster for this country. If Iraq fails, and you have open civil war, and it creates a regional conflict that would follow us for decades."
      Referring to President Lincoln's search for a winning general in the U.S. Civil War, Graham said the new commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, "I hope is Bush's Grant. It is now time for a change."
     

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