Some interesting news of the weekend is Fred Thompson's break, and borderline criticism, with President Bush on Iraq. Bush predicted a long term troop commitment in the country which drew a response from Thompson who is wary of staying in Iraq longer than is necessary:
"It's hard to see that far in the future, but I would certainly hope not, that would not be a good development," the presidential candidate told The AP. "I would not want to predict that. I don't know why he did."
Asked to assess the prosecution of the war, Thompson was able to find faults.
"I think we clearly didn't go in with adequate forces the first time," the former Tennessee senator said. "Clearly we didn't understand the nature of what we were facing and that it was going to take a good while in order to get control of the situation."
His described his definition of success in Iraq:
"The average person being able to go to worship without fear of being blown up. ... Political leaders being able to meet without fear of being blown up. The key is stability, and that would signal a level of stability we haven't had."
This makes Thompson the first of the major candidates to publicly distance himself from Iraq. And rather call for a complete withdrawal, he reaffirms his commitment to getting the job done.
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