Statement by Rep. Mike Thompson on General Petraeus' Report
September 10, 2007
Today, Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) released the following statement on the testimony given by General Petraeus:
“General Petraeus' report was just a thinly guised veil of President Bush's routine excuses for continuing war. While his intentions may be good, the General only confirms my belief that redeployment should begin immediately.
“After nearly five years in Iraq, it is abundantly clear that the Iraqi government will not take responsibility for securing its country as long as our troops are doing it for them. Just this January, President Bush said that with the support of 30,000 more U.S. troops, the Iraqi government planned to secure their county by this November. But a GAO report out just last week finds that the Iraqi government is nowhere close to controlling their country. Even worse, another recent report on the Iraqi security forces found that the Iraqi police force and the agency that oversees it are overrun with corruption and sectarianism.
“The president also said in January that if the Iraqi government does not make progress, it will lose the support of the American people. I believe the American people have lost faith in the Iraqi government and in President Bush's failed strategies. For our own safety and that of the Iraqi people, we need a new direction in Iraq - one that puts our resources into finding a diplomatic strategy for quelling the violence in Iraq and rooting out terrorism both in Iraq and around the globe.
“We are far beyond envisioning our troops home, as General Petraeus has implied. The American people want to see all of their troops home as soon as possible, period.”
Congressman Thompson has been a vocal critic of the war since before it began. He recently introduced a bill (HR 3071), which calls for redeployment of troops out of Iraq to begin immediately, while simultaneously requiring the president to work with the United Nations to implement a region-wide strategy for containing Iraq's civil war.
“General Petraeus' report was just a thinly guised veil of President Bush's routine excuses for continuing war. While his intentions may be good, the General only confirms my belief that redeployment should begin immediately.
“After nearly five years in Iraq, it is abundantly clear that the Iraqi government will not take responsibility for securing its country as long as our troops are doing it for them. Just this January, President Bush said that with the support of 30,000 more U.S. troops, the Iraqi government planned to secure their county by this November. But a GAO report out just last week finds that the Iraqi government is nowhere close to controlling their country. Even worse, another recent report on the Iraqi security forces found that the Iraqi police force and the agency that oversees it are overrun with corruption and sectarianism.
“The president also said in January that if the Iraqi government does not make progress, it will lose the support of the American people. I believe the American people have lost faith in the Iraqi government and in President Bush's failed strategies. For our own safety and that of the Iraqi people, we need a new direction in Iraq - one that puts our resources into finding a diplomatic strategy for quelling the violence in Iraq and rooting out terrorism both in Iraq and around the globe.
“We are far beyond envisioning our troops home, as General Petraeus has implied. The American people want to see all of their troops home as soon as possible, period.”
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Congressman Thompson has been a vocal critic of the war since before it began. He recently introduced a bill (HR 3071), which calls for redeployment of troops out of Iraq to begin immediately, while simultaneously requiring the president to work with the United Nations to implement a region-wide strategy for containing Iraq's civil war.
Issues:Defense