Chris Dodd: “for 4 long years, our Nation has been engaged in a war without a clear objective, exit strategy, or international…”

“for 4 long years, our Nation has been engaged in a war without a clear objective, exit strategy, or international mandate, and the consequences of such policies have been devastating. Our moral standing in the world has plummeted. Iraq is now mired in civil war, and terrorists have found a recruiting and training ground for attacking American troops. But few effects of this war are more troubling than the destructive impact this war has had on our Armed Forces. Approximately 3,800 brave American servicemembers have been killed in Iraq, and tens of thousands have been severely wounded. Military families have been forced to endure long and repeated stretches of time without their loved ones. And most significant, our forces have been stretched thin to a near-breaking point. This can be seen in the ever increasing number of suicides among our returning servicemembers, alltime low reenlistment rates, and the destruction of our military families. The adage is true--we recruit a soldier, but we retain a family. And if that family is broken, so, too, will be the soldier. While long deployments are testing our troops in the field, they are also taxing critical stocks of combat gear and training time. According to some reports, over two-thirds of our Army and 88 percent of our National Guard are unable to report for duty due to equipment shortfalls and insufficient military instruction stateside.”