Political Quotes

“yesterday's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee afforded General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker the opportunity to address the two central questions of the war in Iraq. No. 1: Has the troop surge brought us closer to the day when our troops can come home? Second, is the war in Iraq making America safer? By all accounts, the answer to both questions is no. While General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker both deserve our gratitude for their hard work--and this is hard work under extraordinarily difficult circumstances--their testimony gave our country no reason to believe the strategy will change. President Bush himself described the purpose of the surge as giving the Iraqi Government and its people the space to achieve reconciliation. Recent violence and the intensifying struggle between al-Maliki and al-Sadr proved beyond any doubt the window we provided may be closing. President Bush clings to his talking points that the surge is working, but he called his plan a return on success, meaning that if the surge worked, our troops could return home. If we have the success he claims, where is the return? Since Monday, we have had 12 American soldiers killed in Iraq. We are stuck in the 'Twilight Zone' in Iraq. When violence is up, the President says we can't bring our troops home. When violence is down, the President says we can't bring our troops home.”