Hank Johnson: “for months now this Democratic Congress has tried to change course in Iraq, but a stubborn President, supported by a…”

“for months now this Democratic Congress has tried to change course in Iraq, but a stubborn President, supported by a rubber-stamp Republican Congress in both the House and the Senate, has made that impossible. In the spring, Republican leaders said by September, which is now, we should know if the President's troop escalation plan is working. And if it wasn't, then they would be ready to explore a different course. Yesterday, the GAO released a report concluding that the Iraqi Government had fallen short of meeting 11 of the 18 benchmarks that President Bush said they would have to meet. The report also found that four other benchmarks had only partially been met. That means that the Iraqi Government has met only three of 18 benchmarks. Let's not forget that the main reason that the President gave for the troop escalation earlier this year was to better secure the Nation so that the Iraqi Government could meet these political objectives. The GAO report concludes that "violence remains high" and that the political promises have not been kept. Madam Speaker, I would only hope that our Republican colleagues would take a serious look and join us, as they said they would, in demanding a change of course in Iraq.”