(Washington, DC) - "Mr. Chairman, there’s a lot to say about Iraq, but little of it is new. All we’re arguing about now is how much time it will take for the President’s defenders in Congress to disassociate themselves from the President’s policy. In case any of them are wondering what it is they’re still defending, let me remind them.

 The Bush Administration’s effort to implant a Western-style democracy in Iraq has failed. The Bush Administration’s effort to reorder the Middle East by making an example out of Saddam has failed. The Bush Administration’s effort to intimidate Iran and Syria into better behavior has failed. The Bush Administration’s effort to defeat Al-Qaeda by drawing them to Iraq–a strategy that reduced our soldiers to the role of bait–has failed. The Bush Administration’s effort to reorder not just Iraq’s institutions, but the very nature of its politics and economy has failed.

The Bush Administration’s effort to create a functioning democracy by re-writing Iraq’s constitution and holding an election has failed. The Bush Administration’s attempt to create a viable broad-based government on a foundation of unresolved ethnic and religious tension has failed.

 The Bush Administration’s reconstruction program and no-bid contracts have been a boon to it’s corporate allies, but the effort to provide Iraq’s people with reliable electricity, water and sewage services has failed. The Bush Administration’s effort to restore Iraq’s oil sector has failed. The Bush Administration’s efforts to assist the four million Iraqi refugees and displaced persons are virtually non-existent, and not surprisingly, also have failed. The Bush Administration’s effort to establish law and order through the training and arming of Iraqi soldiers, paramilitary forces, and police who remain loyal principally to their tribe or sect, and often to a hostile militia, has failed.

 The Bush Administration’s effort to control vast stockpiles of Iraqi conventional arms with helicopter patrols failed. The Bush Administration’s effort to control thousands of miles of borders with overhead imagery systems failed. The Bush Administration’s effort to protect the human rights of the Iraqis in the custody of our military failed. The Bush Administration’s effort to establish security in Iraq with too few troops failed. And now the Bush Administration’s effort to repair that mistake with a “surge” of a few thousand more troops is failing.

 The Bush Administration’s attempt to hold together an international coalition of the willing has failed. The Bush Administration’s effort to persuade the American public that this futile, costly and bloody effort, is worth continuing has failed. The Bush Administration’s attempt to link the attacks of 9/11 to the current debacle in Iraq has failed. And the Bush Administration’s on-going efforts to smear and scare-monger more life into this debilitating and catastrophic policy has failed.

 Last week, the Democratic Majority again acted to end this war, to responsibly redeploy our troops, and to focus our nation’s energy on restoring our military strength, and protecting our allies in the region. Not surprisingly, almost all the “No” votes came from the Republican Minority, still apparently in the thrall of the President. I don’t know when, but certainly before November 2008, the Bush Administration’s political holding action will also fail. Our friends across the aisle just need to decide how much failure they can stomach. The rest of us have had more than enough."
 

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