George H.W. Bush

I guess my reaction to all the noise about, you know, he wants to go to war, is, first of all, I don't understand the tactics. And I guess I would say it's political.

Today I'm sending the Congress a wartime supplemental appropriations request of $74.7 billion to fund needs directly arising from the Iraqi conflict and our global war against terror.

Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces.

This new strategy will not yield an immediate end to suicide bombings, assassinations or IED attacks.

Their solution is to scale back America's efforts in Baghdad or announce the phased withdrawal of our combat forces.

I have made it clear to the prime minister and Iraq's other leaders that America's commitment is not open-ended.

Only Iraqis can end the sectarian violence and secure their people.

Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.

If Iran escalates its military action in Iraq to the detriment of our troops and/or innocent Iraqi people, we will respond firmly.

Most people recognize that failure would be a disaster for the United States. And, in that I'm the decision-maker, I had to come up with a way forward that precluded disaster.

Now, some are trying to say that because we are enforcing -- helping ourselves in Iraq by -- by stopping outside influence from killing our soldiers or hurting Iraqi people that we want to expand beyond this beyond the borders. That's…

If they are moving weapons inside Iraq that will hurt the cause of democracy and, more particularly, hurt our soldiers, we will take care of business there.

If somebody's trying to harm our troops, or stop us from achieving our goal, or killing innocent citizens in Iraq, that we will stop them.

The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people.

It's one thing to say this is the goal. It's another thing to actually participate in achieving that goal.

America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil.

You didn't vote them into law. I didn't sign them into law. Yet, they are treated as if they have the force of law. The time has come to end this practice.

Time has come to end this practice.

Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work. And I ask you to support our troops in the field and those on their way.

And we must have a rational, humane guest worker program that rejects amnesty, allows temporary jobs for people who seek them legally, and reduces smuggling and crime at the border.

What Congress has given, the Congress should not take away. For the sake of job growth, the tax cuts you passed should be permanent.

We must make Social Security financially stable and allow personal retirement accounts for younger workers who choose them.

This president is willing to bet the rest of his presidency to have the next two years be a living hell for him to prevent that from happening.

If we withdraw prematurely from Iraq, then we will see the next 9/11 erupt from that country, which will be Afghanistan under the Taliban, only 100 times worse.

This Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology, build infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production at home so America is less dependent on foreign oil.