Speeches
Pelosi: We Must Work Together to Wind Down the Iraq War
04/18/2007
“Thank you very much, Mr. Leader.
I join you in welcoming Aidan and Jeremy, Debbie, Sue, and Dale -- two veterans
and moms of three persons in the military.
“It is clear that in this war, we
do not have a plan worthy of the sacrifice of these families. We salute our men
and women in uniform and their families for their courage, their patriotism, and
the sacrifices they are willing to make for our
country.
“We owe them much more, in terms
of the plan for the war they are in and a plan for when they come home. The
facts in
“The facts are that when they come
home, we do not have the facilities, not even in
“The American people, a majority
of both houses in the Congress, large numbers of generals, the Iraq Study Group
have all said that we must work together to wind down this
war.
“It is in that spirit, the
strength and inspiration of these families, the encouragement of those who have
served in the military, the outside groups that are non partisan suggesting it,
that we go to the President, extend a hand of friendship, and say to the
President that we must work together. We must negotiate an approach that will
wind down this war. I hope the President will be receptive to that. In fact, I
pray that he will be.
“For us and our country, this can
be an historic day. The President and leaders in Congress both must recognize
their Constitutional responsibilities to provide for the common defense and both
recognize that we have to respect each others’ roles in it. The legislation
that we want to present to the President already is a compromise because it
contains his own benchmarks for progress in
“The President has to think hard
and long about the words of his own Secretary of Defense who was reported today
as stating, and I quote Secretary Gates, ‘The debate in Congress…has been
helpful in demonstrating to the Iraqis that American patience is limited. The
strong feeling expressed in the Congress about the timetable probably has had a
positive impact…in terms of communicating to the Iraqis that this is not an open
ended commitment.’ I hope the President heard those comments. I hope the
President is listening and in that spirit of hope, that we will visit him this
afternoon.
“Thank you, Mr.
Leader.”