Press Releases
Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami
202-226-7616
08/16/2007
Pelosi: September Report on Iraq Must Provide Candid Assessment
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the
following statement today after news organizations reported that the Bush
Administration will seek to limit involvement by General David H. Petraeus in
the September progress report on the war in Iraq:
“For a long time the Administration has hidden behind the
name of General David Petraeus, saying the September report will be his. We all knew this would be the President’s
report. It is now clear that the White
House will seek to limit involvement by General Petraeus in reporting to the
Congress and to the American people next month.
“We must remember that the purpose of the surge was to
create a secure environment in which political change could occur. Whether or not some limited military success
has occurred, it is clear that the Iraqi leaders have failed to make political
progress.
“The question for September is: ‘Why should our troops risk
their lives in a civil war when the Iraqi government refuses to take the
political steps necessary to end the sectarian violence?’ We must have a candid assessment of the
ongoing situation in