Former Virginia Senator Chuck Robb on Iraq

An article that will appear in today's Richmond Times Dispatch says that former Senator Chuck Robb of VA was the only member of the "Iraq Study Group" to leave Baghdad's fortified zone on a trip to the country that the group took earlier this year.

Robb also, according to the report, said that one possibility to remedy the problems in Iraq was to temporarily increase troop levels to stabilize the capitol city of Baghdad:

Robb, who represented Virginia in the Senate from 1989 to 2001, said he appreciated that the panel "allowed me to have language" in the report saying troop levels could be increased temporarily to stabilize Baghdad.

The report said: "We could, however, support a short-term redeployment or surge of American combat forces to stabilize Baghdad, or to speed up the training and equipping mission, if the U.S. commander in Iraq determines that such steps would be effective."

Robb also told the RTD that the US has lost confidence in the mission:

"It's clear the nation, the United States, has lost confidence in the fact that we're on the right course and believes that change is necessary."

Like ALL the other members of the Iraq study group, Robb has denied to speculate on whether or not the invasion of Iraq was a good idea in the first place, but rather said the group's main focus was to find the "best war forward."

I'd be interested to know if perhaps the group as a whole made an agreement not to criticize going to war, or speculate on the past, but to just stick to looking to the future?