Cross-posted at the Biden Blog.
When not busy expressing his newfound confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, President Bush has spent the past few week citing "progress" in Iraq.
The White House has proven yet again that it is totally out of touch with reality. The surge is not working. In the deadliest attack on U.S. forces since December 2005, nine paratroopers were killed yesterday after suicide bombers targeted a small outpost just northeast of Baghdad.
Earlier today, Senator Joe Biden delivered a passionate speech on Iraq on the floor of the U.S. Senate. He implored the President to change course in Iraq, change his failed policy and end this war responsibly.
See video after the jump.
It is the overwhelming opinion of the majority of military experts, bloggers on DailyKos and the American people that there is no military solution in Iraq. Only a political solution will end the sectarian cycle of violence in Iraq and allow us to bring our troops home while keeping our interests in the region intact.
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Visit PlanForIraq.com to read more about the Biden-Gelb plan -- the only one that addresses how we can prevent Iraq’s civil war from escalating to a regional war that draws the United States into another conflict in the Middle East.
Joe Biden called the President out on his threat to veto the Iraq Emergency Supplemental funding bill our Democratic Congress will put on his desk:
"He is the one who will be denying our troops funding."
Later:
The President's double talk on Iraq is reaching new heights of hypocrisy.
On April 16, the President claimed that setting a timetable to start
bringing home our troops would be to "legislate defeat."
Just two days later – two days later – his own Secretary of Defense
had this to say: "The push by Democrats to set a timetable for U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq has been helpful in showing Iraqis that American
patience is limited... that this is not an open ended commitment."
Then, in arguing against the Supplemental, the President claimed that
by sending him a bill he would somehow be forced to veto, the military
would run out of money for Iraq in April – which is not true – and as
a result, he would have to extend the tours of troops already in Iraq.
Extending those tours, the President said, "is unacceptable. It's
unacceptable to me, it's unacceptable to our veterans, it's
unacceptable to our military families, and it's unacceptable to many
in this country."
Unacceptable?
The very next day – the very next day -- the administration announced
it was extending the tours of every U.S. ground troop in Iraq by three
months. Once you get over the hypocrisy, that announcement is an
urgent warning that the administration's Iraq policy cannot be
sustained without doing terrible long-term damage to our military.
The only mission the President has accomplished is emboldening the enemy with his failed policy in Iraq.
We need to keep up the pressure on the President if he makes the mistake of continuing his failed policy and vetos these vital resources for our troops. It is time to bring this war to a responsible end.