The Anti-Sam Brownback Blog

Further distancing him from the other GOP primary candidates, Senator Sam Brownback has come out against the McCain-Bush plan for Iraq:

“I do not believe that sending more troops to Iraq is the answer,” Brownback said. “Iraq requires a political rather than a military solution.”

Brownback had previously supported a short-term increase in troop levels if it could help achieve long-term political stability, which the Bush administration has said it hopes a surge will help achieve.

But Brownback rejected that argument after meeting this week with several Iraqi leaders and U.S. military commanders.

“I came away from these meetings convinced that the United States should not increase its involvement until Sunnis and Shiia are more willing to cooperate with each other instead of shooting at each other,” Brownback said. “The best way to reach a democratic Iraq is to empower the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own nation-building.”

It is not in the U.S. interest to get deeply involved in sectarian strife, he said.

I have to admit, I never thought I would see the day. It certainly appears that Brownback is attempting to run to the left of the other GOP candidates on the Iraq war.

Brownback’s Iraq policy is certainly an epic political maneuver. It is a daring attempt to make some noise and differentiate himself from the pack. The telling moment will come in three weeks when Brownback’s first FEC quarterly filing (for Q4 of 2006) will be publicaly available. A candidate can have a lovely message, but it takes big bucks to reach those caucus goers.

If anyone has any info on his numbers before the official filing, I would love to hear.