Lynn C. Woolsey: “over the past 5 years, the Bush administration has repeatedly asked the American people to put their faith and their…”

“over the past 5 years, the Bush administration has repeatedly asked the American people to put their faith and their judgment in the judgment of the White House, especially as it pertains to our position in Iraq. But as we have seen, and we have seen it time and time again, that judgment is based on ignoring voices of dissent and the reality on the ground in favor of a stay-the-course mentality. When General Petraeus presents his report on Iraq next week, we cannot allow the voice of the American people to be ignored. We watched this administration relaunch its public relations campaign to sell ``the escalation'' to the American people, and now they insist that the escalation is working. All this in spite of the Iraqi Government's failure to achieve most of its key benchmarks for military and political progress and the dramatic increase in American and Iraqi casualties since the escalation began. The administration continues, Mr. Speaker, to resist all attempts supported by the overwhelming majority of Americans to bring our troops home. In essence, we are in the middle of another PR campaign, this one to stifle the will and undermine the judgment of the American people again. Today Congress is again faced with the choice of trusting its own judgment or the claims of the Bush administration. Unfortunately, the past miscalculation and failed predictions of the administration have resulted in tragic consequences.”