Joe Donnelly: “we all want success in Iraq. We want a stable region. We want safety and security for our troops and peace in the Middle…”

“we all want success in Iraq. We want a stable region. We want safety and security for our troops and peace in the Middle East. Our service men and women are the finest in the world, the best trained, the most dedicated. They are incredibly fine soldiers and people. They deserve a clear mission in Iraq. They deserve to have all the protective equipment and armor needed to keep them safe. They deserve to have all the funding required, and they deserve to have the best leadership in the field and the finest military planning from Washington. What our brave troops do not deserve is Washington's bungling. We had bad intelligence at the start, a flawed occupation plan that failed to send enough troops, despite the best advice of the Army's Chief of Staff at that time, and Washington failed to properly plan for critical logistics such as electricity and infrastructure. These mistakes have put our troops in much greater danger. With these issues in mind, I sent a letter to the Administration over 1 month ago asking for specific answers as to how this surge would increase our chances for success in Iraq. I was very hopeful for positive solutions. I also asked at that time what specific benchmarks we could look at to indicate whether or not we were making progress. As of this date, I have yet to receive any answer from the Administration.”