Smith changed by mounting deaths in Iraq

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A key Senate supporter of President Bush's Iraq policy says he changed his position radically last week because of the mounting U.S. death toll.

Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., talked Sunday on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

In June, Smith said, "As I have studied history, I have never found an instance whereby victory is won by announcing retreat."

But his public position changed several days ago. "I for one am tired of paying the price, 10 or more of our troops dying a day," Smith said Thursday night in the Senate. "So let's cut and run, or cut and walk, but let us fight the war on terror more intelligently than we have."

Smith said his dramatic change came to a head after hearing news reports Wednesday of 10 new U.S. deaths. "I went from steam to boil," he said Sunday. "And I felt I had to speak out because if we're going to be there, let's win. If we're not, let's at least fight the war on terror in a way that makes sense."

Smith refused to back away from his Thursday statement that the current policy is "criminal."

"I said it, and you can use any adjective you want ... but I have long believed in a military context when you do the same thing over and over again without a clear strategy for victory at the expense of your young people in arms, that is dereliction," Smith said. "That is deeply immoral."

U.S. military deaths in Iraq are approaching the 3,000 mark.