Issues
THE WAR IN IRAQ:
All of us are incredibly grateful for the remarkable sacrifices our troops have made in Iraq. They have done whatever we have asked of them, and they have served brilliantly.
We agree that there is no purely military solution to the problems in Iraq. All of our military commanders, including General Petraeus, as well as Secretary Gates and Secretary Rice, have told us as much. When the President announced his escalation to the American public last January, he said the purpose was to create �breathing room� for Iraqi politicians to move forward on national reconciliation.
Over a year later, it is clear that this escalation did not accomplish its primary goal of securing sustainable political progress. Regardless of whether one believes that the President�s escalation has produced other successes, we can all agree that it is now ending. When the �surge� brigades are withdrawn, we are going to be almost right back where we started from in terms of combat troop levels.
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That�s why I believe as strongly as ever that we need to fundamentally change course in Iraq. The events of the past year have shown once again a basic truth of our presence there: Iraqis will not resolve their differences and take responsibility for Iraq while they can rely on the indefinite, large-scale presence of U.S. troops.
In order to succeed in Iraq, we need to set a deadline for the redeployment of most U.S. combat troops from Iraq � leaving only enough military forces necessary for training Iraqi security forces, protecting U.S. personnel and infrastructure, and hunting down Al Qaeda and other terrorists in Iraq. At the same time, America must engage in the intensive diplomacy necessary to get Iraq�s neighbors to play a more constructive role in stabilizing the country.
If the Administration followed these steps, we would have a plan that would give Iraqis the chance to address their political grievances and allow our troops to come home safely and quickly. We owe our service members nothing less than a policy that is worthy of their sacrifice.
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