Steve Cohen: “Democratic efforts to change direction in Iraq forced the President to issue a preliminary report showing that the…”

“Democratic efforts to change direction in Iraq forced the President to issue a preliminary report showing that the Iraqis have not met the benchmarks that they were supposed to. The failure of the Iraqi Government to keep its promises, coupled with continued violence on the ground, the death of our soldiers and Iraqi civilians has led Senate Republicans, at least some of them, to join us in calling for a new direction in Iraq. Some Senate Republicans see the writing on the wall... The situation is getting worse for our troops. We will see this week whether Senate Republicans mean what they say and they vote for the Levin-Reed amendment when it comes to the Senate floor tomorrow and bring our troops home. The amendment is close to identical with what the House passed with Democratic votes and four Republicans last week. The Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki has said they can supply their own defense and they don't need us any longer. When a host says go home, it is only correct to go home. He says they don't need us. We aren't needed. We need to bring our troops home and not have them needlessly die.”