Security Experts Join Bipartisan Call for Plan to Withdraw Troops
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) and Democratic and Republican colleagues were joined by Lt. Gen. (ret.) William Odom, former Director of the National Security Agency, and Dr. Christopher Prebble, the Cato Institute’s Director of Foreign Policy Studies and a founding member of the Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, in speaking out in support H.J. Res. 55, bipartisan legislation calling for the President to announce a plan for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq at a press conference on Capitol Hill today. The following is her statement:
“The fact is that a majority of Americans and a growing number of Members of Congress believe that it was a mistake to invade Iraq. What’s more, two-thirds of Americans now believe that it’s time for U.S. to start bringing our troops home, and there is growing bipartisan support for that sentiment.
“This bipartisan resolution—H.J.Res. 55—takes the important step of demanding that the President present a withdrawal plan by the end of this year and start bringing troops home by October 1, 2006 at the latest.
“This war has claimed the lives of tens of thousands, it has cost us hundreds of billions, and it has made our country and the world less safe.
“As the daughter of a veteran, let me tell you we must support our troops, and the best way we can support them is by bringing them home, and when they come home, let’s make sure they all come home.
“The human cost of this war has been terrible. It has undermined our nation’s standing and made the world less safe, but this war is also sowing destruction right here at home. Hurricane Katrina has shown the world what you and I have long known: that America should be fighting poverty at home, not an unnecessary war in Iraq.
“So we must end this war, and we must ensure that the most vulnerable among us do not continue to be collateral damage.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in bringing our troops home and focusing on the pressing business of rebuilding America.”
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