WASHINGTON -- A passionate congressional debate over the war in Iraq ended abruptly this week in legislative deadlock, leaving President Bush free to continue his military buildup into September. But inside the Bush administration, a less visible but no less passionate debate is under way - over whether the "surge" should continue even longer.
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the overall commander in Iraq, is expected to present Bush with several options in a key report in September, along with an analysis of where each path might lead.
But senior administration officials are far from unified over the question of whether progress over the summer should lead to an extension of the surge - or to an opportunity to declare victory and end the increase in forces.
Evidence is mounting that military commanders favor a continuation of the buildup, which now stands at 158,000 troops, through next spring. Yesterday, two senior military commanders in Iraq indicated that efforts to stabilize their provinces will stretch well beyond September.
"I worry about this talk about reducing or terminating the surge," one of the officers, Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of U.S. troops to the south of Baghdad, said in an interview with the Associated Press. "It's going to take through [this] summer, into the fall, to defeat the extremists in my battle space, and it's going to take me into next spring and summer to generate this sustained security presence."
But support for continuing the troop buildup into next year is not universal within the administration. Most significantly, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has repeatedly said that he would like to see a drawdown begin before the end of the year and has signaled that the September report could mark the start of the withdrawals.
While the administration was able to quell rebellious Republicans this week, the job is likely to be more difficult in September. That's when several leading Republican moderates - including Senators John W. Warner of Virginia and Richard G. Lugar of Indiana - indicated that they would be more receptive to changes in strategy.
The White House has signaled it is well aware of the sensitivities. White House spokesman Tony Snow insisted that Lynch's comments - along with similar assessments from Marine Maj. Gen. Walter E. Gaskin, the commander of U.S. forces in western Anbar province, and from the day-to-day commander in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno - were not efforts to reach beyond the September report.
"This is not an attempt to buy more time," Snow said at his daily briefing. "The generals obviously are interested in continuing, because they think that they've got successful and important operations, but they also realize that there are challenges."
Odierno suggested Thursday that he might need until November to assess the long-term prospects of the buildup. He clarified his remarks yesterday, saying that he recognized the importance of the September report.
Peter Spiegel writes for the Los Angeles Times.