SCHAKOWSKY: TIME TO START BRINGING OUR SOLDIERS HOME; CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY FROM PRESIDENT BUSH ON IRAQ WAR

June 28, 2005

JUNE 28, 2005

SCHAKOWSKY: TIME TO START BRINGING OUR SOLDIERS HOME

CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY FROM PRESIDENT BUSH ON IRAQ WAR

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky today released a statement calling for accountability from President Bush on the War in Iraq. Hours before the President's address on the war to troops at Fort Bragg, Representative Schakowsky asked the President to level with the American people about when our soldiers will be able to leave Iraq and to explain why the U.S. is spending over a billion dollars a week on the war while our troops still do not have all of the equipment necessary to protect themselves.

The full text of Representative Schakowsky's statement is below:

"Last night I went to the floor of the House and read the names of some of the more than 1700 young men and women who have been killed in Iraq since the war officially began in 2003."

"The number of dead is growing faster than ever now."

"The Bush Administration is delusional about the situation in Iraq just as it has been from the moment the decision was made to invade a country that never was a threat to the United States. And now we know, from the Downing St. Memo, that decision was based on a series of lies."

"Iraq has become more dangerous not less. It has become what it wasn't before the war - a breeding ground for terrorists."

"We don't need a pep talk from the President. We need accountability. We need answers. The President needs to explain to the American people why it is that the U.S. is spending more than a billion dollars each week in Iraq and still our troops do not have the armored vehicles they need or the health care they need when they come home. He needs to tell us how long he intends to send our soldiers to fight and die in a war that never should have been. Donald Rumsfeld originally said this conflict would be over in 5 months at most - now he says 12 years."

"The President has left himself and all Americans with no good options. But the worst of all is to keep our soldiers in Iraq. It is time to start bringing them home."