Schakowsky Statement on White House Report on Iraq

SCHAKOWSKY STATEMENT ON WHITE HOUSE REPORT ON <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />IRAQ

Washington, D.C.–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) released the following statement today in response to the White House Interim Report on Iraq. The report is the first of two reports that Congress ordered the White House to produce when it passed war funding legislation he requested this spring.

"The White House report exposes the many failures of the Bush Administration's policy in Iraq. No matter how hard the President tries to spin these findings, the report clearly shows that the Iraqi government has failed to meet 10 out of 18 benchmarks endorsed by his Administration in January.

More than 3,600 American troops have been killed, 26,000 have been injured, and over a half of trillion dollars has been wasted since this war began over four years ago. Yet, the President said today that we are at the starting line. How can he honestly suggest that after years of bloodshed and chaos in Iraq that we are at the starting line? Mr. President, the American people's patience has run out and they are demanding an end to this war.

In the last six months, President Bush has had numerous chances to prove that the surge was working. Instead, we have lost nearly 600 American troops and spent $60 billion in the six months since the surge began. Today's report clearly shows that surge is not working and that the war in Iraq is a disaster.

It is high time for this President to acknowledge, what a majority of Americans already know, that this war is a failure and that we need to bring our troops home now....