Political Quotes

“first, let me compliment and thank the assistant majority leader, the Senator from Illinois, for his consistent comments with regard to the U.S. role in Iraq. He has made it clear that the U.S. interest has not been served by these last 5 years, that we have lost our focus on the war on terror. As he pointed out, we have real concerns, internationally, about terrorism, and we have been distracted, particularly in Afghanistan, because of the focus on Iraq. He pointed out very clearly that the United States has invested so much--the lives of our soldiers, the cost to the taxpayers, those who have come back wounded. And what have we done this for? These soldiers deserve the right mission: that we concentrate on dealing with the war against terror, that we have the Iraqis take responsibility for their own country, particularly in the midst of civil war. A lot of this is just Iraqis fighting Iraqis--Shiites fighting Shiites for power--and the United States has sustained fighters on both sides, in some cases. This is so counterproductive to U.S. interests. I congratulate the Senator and thank him for continuing to bring out these issues. We hope in the next 10 months there will be some changes. We also understand we have to transition to a different mission, considering the type of sacrifices that have been made by our troops and the taxpayers of this country. I thank him very much for his leadership.”