Sheldon Whitehouse: “the Senate will vote on whether America is on the right course in Iraq, or the wrong one. I have spent the past two…”

“the Senate will vote on whether America is on the right course in Iraq, or the wrong one. I have spent the past two years traveling all over Rhode Island, listening to people from my state who were angry and frustrated at this President's refusal to see that his policies in Iraq were wrong from the start, and remain wrong today. Last November, they and millions of Americans cast their votes for a new direction. They sent us here to hold this President accountable: for distorting intelligence to serve his policy goals; for failing to give our troops the equipment they needed to do their jobs overseas, and failing to take adequate care of them when they return home; for telling our country the mission was accomplished when, as we've seen, the war has now stretched on for five long years; for now proposing to send tens of thousands more American soldiers into harm's way, against the wishes of the American people, and without a plan to bring the conflict to an end. Americans know the truth: escalating the war in Iraq will not make that nation more secure, or bring Iraq and its people any closer to a lasting peace. It will not make our nation more secure. And it is not the new direction Americans demanded. There is a way to change course in Iraq. If we announce clearly that the redeployment of American troops will begin, and begin soon, that opens up diplomatic opportunities in Iraq, in the Middle East, and around the world.”