Tom Carper: “6 months ago, I was in Iraq with Senator Hagel. We met with a number of people. Among the people with whom we met in one…”

“6 months ago, I was in Iraq with Senator Hagel. We met with a number of people. Among the people with whom we met in one of the beautiful palaces of Saddam Hussein not far from Baghdad Airport, were the leaders of our American military forces in that country. During the course of that conversation, we heard these words from our top military leader: It is time for America to move toward the door. He didn't say it is time for us to walk out of the door, leave, close the door. He said: It is time for us to move toward the door. Subsequent to that, we met with Iraqi military and political leaders and our own diplomatic leaders, and the message I heard in almost all of those meetings was: it is time for America to begin moving toward the door. We have had a policy in Iraq, at least in the last couple of years, of stay the course. ``Stay the course'' is a good slogan, and there have been times in our history as a nation when staying the course was actually a pretty good strategy. This is not one of those times. What is needed is a different--not a different slogan, but a different strategy, and the strategy we need would be not stay the course but change the course. The American people would like for us to begin to bring our men and women home and, as it turns out, so would the Iraqi people. In talking with the President upon our return, I said: You know, Mr. President, sometimes less is more.…”