[Vision2020] Democrats' Letter to President Bush

[Tom Hansen]

>From CNN at:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/05/dems.letter/index.html

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Democrats' letter to President Bush

This is the open letter Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California sent to President Bush on Friday:

Dear Mr. President:

The start of the new Congress brings us opportunities to work together on
the critical issues confronting our country. No issue is more important than
finding an end to the war in Iraq. December was the deadliest month of the
war in over two years, pushing U.S. fatality figures over the 3,000 mark.

The American people demonstrated in the November elections that they do not
believe your current Iraq policy will lead to success and that we need a
change in direction for the sake of our troops and the Iraqi people. We
understand that you are completing your post-election consultations on Iraq
and are preparing to make a major address on your Iraq strategy to the
American people next week.

Clearly this address presents you with another opportunity to make a long
overdue course correction. Despite the fact that our troops have been pushed
to the breaking point and, in many cases, have already served multiple tours
in Iraq, news reports suggest that you believe the solution to the civil war
in Iraq is to require additional sacrifices from our troops and are
therefore prepared to proceed with a substantial U.S. troop increase.

Surging forces is a strategy that you have already tried and that has
already failed. Like many current and former military leaders, we believe
that trying again would be a serious mistake. They, like us, believe there
is no purely military solution in Iraq. There is only a political solution.

Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our
military to the breaking point for no strategic gain. And it would undermine
our efforts to get the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future.
We are well past the point of more troops for Iraq.

In a recent appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, General
John Abizaid, our top commander for Iraq and the region, said the following
when asked about whether he thought more troops would contribute to our
chances for success in Iraq:

"I met with every divisional commander, General Casey, the Corps commander,
General Dempsey. We all talked together. And I said, in your professional
opinion, if we were to bring in more American troops now, does it add
considerably to our ability to achieve success in Iraq? And they all said
no. And the reason is, because we want the Iraqis to do more. It's easy for
the Iraqis to rely upon to us do this work. I believe that more American
forces prevent the Iraqis from doing more, from taking more responsibility
for their own future."

Rather than deploy additional forces to Iraq, we believe the way forward is
to begin the phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six
months, while shifting the principal mission of our forces there from combat
to training, logistics, force protection and counter-terror. A renewed
diplomatic strategy, both within the region and beyond, is also required to
help the Iraqis agree to a sustainable political settlement. In short, it is
time to begin to move our forces out of Iraq and make the Iraqi political
leadership aware that our commitment is not open ended, that we cannot
resolve their sectarian problems, and that only they can find the political
resolution required to stabilize Iraq.

Our troops and the American people have already sacrificed a great deal for
the future of Iraq. After nearly four years of combat, tens of thousands of
U.S. casualties, and over $300 billion dollars, it is time to bring the war
to a close. We, therefore, strongly encourage you to reject any plans that
call for our getting our troops any deeper into Iraq. We want to do
everything we can to help Iraq succeed in the future but, like many of our
senior military leaders, we do not believe that adding more U.S. combat
troops contributes to success.

We appreciate you taking these views into consideration.

Sincerely,

Harry Reid, Majority Leader

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker


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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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"Seldom, if ever, has a war ended leaving the victors with such a sense of
uncertainty and fear -- with such a realization that the future is obscure
and that survival is not assured."

- Edward R. Murrow

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