You're going to start tongues to wagging, so just a -- just a word of friendly advice.

It is quite frustrating to many of us to see the mistakes that have been made and to wonder whether there is any change that will be pursued by the president.

Do they care about our men and women in uniform?

A third of our brigades in the United States are reporting non-deployable because of personnel and equipment shortages.

the status quo is not acceptable.

The dirty little secret is that we don't have enough troops. We need to enlarge the size of the Army and the Marine Corps.

We needed more troops. We needed it very badly.

I have always said we needed more troops in Iraq.

We are not winning the war in Iraq; is that correct?

Therefore, the status quo is not acceptable?

The president cannot, any longer, get away with the status quo and stay the course, stay the course, stay the course.

This is not a precipitous proposal. It's something which would allow for planning.

It's not as though chaos will result if we leave; it's that chaos is there right now.

I would like the president to tell the Iraqi leaders that we are going to begin a phased redeployment of our troops from Iraq in four to six months.

They also, I think, saw in the nominee a person who is very, very willing to reach out across party lines to the Congress on a bipartisan basis, to get the -- the best advice that possibly the Congress can give.

We are bloody impatient. And the problem is Iraqis' political leadership.

Your acknowledgment that we're not winning in Iraq, frankly, is a necessary, refreshing breath of reality that is so needed.

For, only through this phased redeployment can we send a clear message to the Iraqi factions that the United States is not going to hold together this country indefinitely.