SCHAKOWSKY STATEMENT ON THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"

Washington, D.C.–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a founding member of the Out of Iraq Caucus, released the following statement today on the fifth anniversary of President Bush's speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished....

"Five years ago today, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and declared that major combat operations in Iraq were over. Not only was President Bush completely wrong, but his words have come to represent the type of poor judgment and planning that have typified his Iraq war strategy. As President Bush stood on that aircraft carrier and delivered his speech, 139 American troops had been killed in Iraq.

We are now in our sixth year of the war and we are no closer to ending it today then we were when President Bush stood underneath the 'Mission Accomplished' banner and declared victory in Iraq. President Bush's words from that day stand in stark contrast to General Petraeus' recent assessment of the situation in Iraq in which he said 'we have not turned the corner' and that 'there is no light at the end of the tunnel.'

It's clear the President has no more of a plan to end this war then he had when he brought us into this war more than five years ago. We actually have more troops on the ground in Iraq today than we did on May 1, 2003. Since the war began, we have lost over 4,000 American troops, 30,000 of our troops have been injured and more than $600 billion has been spent on this disastrous war in Iraq.

The situation in Iraq is not improving and our mission in Iraq is becoming more precarious as our troops struggle to contain a civil war. In fact, April marked the bloodiest month of the war since last September. It's past time for the President to recognize that there is not a military solution to the situation in Iraq. The longer we stay in Iraq the more lives and treasure we will lose. Before we mark another grim milestone or anniversary, we should put an end to this war and begin bringing our troops home....