The United States must be a leader in confronting the grave threats of this world. What the President is doing in the Middle East is tough, but right. We must not apologize for our hope of a safer world. This is a difficult undertaking, but one that I believe is crucial to our security and the security of the region. We will continue our work until stability in Iraq is firmly established and the Iraqi people are able to pursue a future of peace and democracy. Significant progress has been made in relatively little time, and this is tremendously promising.