“As I listened to the President tonight, I thought about the brave service members I met in Baghdad nearly two years ago and the 58,000 Washingtonians who have served in the region since the start of the war. With courage, they’ve done everything our country has asked of them. They deserve our respect and an approach that honors their tremendous sacrifices.
“The President’s approach gives them neither.
“Tonight, the President proposed an escalation of the fighting in Iraq. Despite the warnings of his top generals, and the message sent by the American people, the President has again decided to go it alone. This is the wrong approach.
“Instead of escalating the war we should carefully redeploy our troops, require the Iraqis to take control of their own political and military stability, and work with neighbors in the region on a broader stabilization effort, as recommended by the Iraq Study Group.
“We all want success in Iraq, and I will use the oversight process to get the facts, hear from the experts and help our country move forward.”
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