Kirk Watson: “Republicans support the Bush promise to stay the course in Iraq with an open-ended commitment and no questions asked.…”

“Republicans support the Bush promise to stay the course in Iraq with an open-ended commitment and no questions asked. This stay-the-course strategy has strained our military, compromised our readiness, cost nearly 2,700 American lives and almost $400 billion, and diverted attention and resources away from the real war on terror. Stay the course is not a strategy, and it is not working. Republicans refuse to face the fact that the reality on the ground is that we are not winning. We have no end game plan. Today, we are bogged down in the middle of a civil war, one where 100 people are killed every day. From May 20 through August 11, the average number of attacks per week against Americans and Iraqis was 792, the highest number since the war began. Meanwhile, the war in Iraq is distracting us from the overall global threat of terror. Over the past 3 years while we have been fighting in Iraq, the number of worldwide terrorist attacks have grown dramatically and the Taliban is growing in strength in Afghanistan. The President has to stop looking and face the facts. ____________________”