No More "Stay The Course"
Floor Speech
NO MORE ``STAY THE COURSE'' -- (House of Representatives - July 16, 2007)
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, the President continues to ask this Congress and the American people to ``stay the course'' in Iraq. Well, Mr. President, today the American people and the Congress have said ``no more.''
Today I add my voice once again to the growing number of retired military generals, the Iraq Study Group, and untold thousands of rank and file on the front lines who were calling for a new direction in Iraq. The success of our military depends on a sound strategy. Yet instead of fighting the terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan, our armed forces are overextended after 4 years of refereeing a civil war in the sands of Iraq.
The President's escalation of this war, his so-called surge, is not working. That much is clear. Since the escalation of this war 6 months ago, more than 25,000 troops have been sent to Iraq, 600 more U.S. soldiers have died, and more than 3,000 troops have been wounded. Countless thousands of Iraqis are dead, and today the violence in Iraq is at an all-time high. Those are facts that no one can deny.
Our troops have performed heroically in Iraq, but the Iraqi Government has failed to meet any, any of the benchmarks endorsed by the President in January. Political reconciliation within Iraq is nonexistent. A change of course is long overdue.
The time has come for the United States to responsibly redeploy our troops from Iraq and to refocus our efforts on protecting Americans from terrorism. The time has come for Iraqis to take primary responsibility for their country and for their security.
Let me be clear on one additional point. Democrats support the troops.
As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I personally have consistently voted to fund our troops and to provide our soldiers in the line of fire with the resources that they need. I do this because our brave servicemen and women are not risking their lives each and every day for one political party over another. They are risking their lives for America.
Our Nation owes our troops a strategy that is worthy of their sacrifice. But ``stay the course'' is not that strategy. It is a slogan that continues to fail them.
No, Mr. Speaker, if we really want to support our troops, it is time to get them out of Iraq and redeploy them to other areas where they can fight the terrorists who have attacked and who continue to threaten our Nation. That's where the war on terror should be waged.
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