Sununu uncertain on Iraq, he says
Under mounting political pressure in New Hampshire to vote against President Bush’s proposed increase to troop levels in Iraq, U.S. Sen. John Sununu yesterday said he remains uncertain what measures he would ultimately support on the Senate floor.
And the New Hampshire Republican, who has said the United States made significant mistakes after ousting Saddam Hussein in 2003, said he does not know now if his 2002 vote to support the invasion of Iraq was the proper course.
“I can’t answer that question. I don’t know what the answer to that question is or should be,” Sununu said yesterday in a telephone interview. “Knowing what I knew at the time, given what information, and that’s the real issue, given the information that was available at the time, the decision was made to take Saddam Hussein from power.
“I think in the long run the Iraqi people are better off for that, but that doesn’t change the fact that very significant mistakes were made, bad choices were made, that have made the process of establishing security and bringing U.S. troops home more difficult.”
Sununu, a first-term Republican who is up for re-election in 2008, drew Democrats’ ire earlier this week when he and most of his GOP colleagues voted to prevent the Senate from considering a resolution opposing the White Houses plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.
