Political Quotes

“even for those convinced the surge in Iraq is a mistake, the manner in which we implement a decision to leave that country is critical to our Nation. Therefore, any Congress mandating a new security policy through force of law owes a careful explanation to the country why and how it is to be done, including dealing with what would occur in the aftermath. However much Americans may agree with us a desire to reduce U.S. forces and withdraw them from Iraq quickly, this Nation must face the alternative of what will happen in the region once that redeployment is done by a force of law. We must remember it took us approximately 6 months to withdraw a small number of troops just from Somalia. We have 160,000 troops in Iraq and over 100,000 contractors, but the time line of about a year that is needed for a safe redeployment also works well to protect our regional interests in a strategic approach to end this war. It provides the time needed for a strategy of regional accommodation to take effect with Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, a strategy that rightly relies upon the long-term interests in a stable aftermath. Therefore, ending this war is necessary but insufficient. How we end it and by what means is even of greater importance for our troops' safety and our own security.”