Political Quotes

Joe Biden: our troops don't lose wars; bad policy and bad leadership lose wars. We should have the courage to stand up and tell the…

On the recordMarch 14, 2007
our troops don't lose wars; bad policy and bad leadership lose wars. We should have the courage to stand up and tell the administration they have had a God-awful policy. They put our troops in a position that, in fact, has made it virtually impossible for them to succeed at the outset. They deserve a policy, a plan, but there is no plan. We went to war with too few troops, we went to war unnecessarily, and we went to war with men and women who were ill-equipped, and they are coming home ill-served. It is about time we have the courage to stand up and say to the President: Mr. President, you have not only put us in harm's way, you have harmed us. You have no policy, Mr. President. I am so tired of hearing on this floor about courage. Let's have the courage to tell the administration to stop this ridiculous policy they have. We are taking sides in a civil war. I was there in Srebrenica. I was in Tuzla. I was in Sarajevo. I was in Brcko in the Balkans. How did we solve that? We solved that with a policy of separating the parties. This is a cycle of self-sustaining sectarian violence that 20,000, 30,000, 50,000, 100,000 Americans will not be able to stop. This is ridiculous. There is no plan. I ask the President and everyone else who comes forward with a plan, whether it is capping or surging or whatever they have: Will it answer the two-word test: Then what? Then what? Then what? What happens after we surge these women and men?
Said by
Joe Biden
Democratic · Delaware

Editor's note · Context

Criticizing the administration's military policy and lack of a clear plan during a speech on the Senate floor.

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