"Given the importance of success in
Iraq to our nation's long-term security and the intense public sentiment about our efforts there, I am pleased that President Bush has laid out his thoughts as Commander-in-Chief for all Americans to hear.
While I support the deployment of additional troops deemed necessary to fight al Qaeda and related terrorists in Iraq and to further train and assist Iraqi security forces, the lead forces in ending sectarian violence in Iraq must be Iraqi. I am thus encouraged that the new strategy for winning the battle for Baghdad security and stability involves the deployment of three Iraqi battalions for each American battalion.
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki and his government must fully understand that our willingness to deploy additional troops is contingent on their firm and public commitment to treat perpetrators of sectarian violence - whether Sunni or Shi'a - equally and the ability of Iraqi forces to assume lead responsibility for security throughout Iraq over the course of the next year. The actions of the Iraqis, not simply their words, must guide our nation's actions in the months to come.
Our courageous troops have liberated Iraq from a regime of terror and torture and have assisted the Iraqi people in standing up a new democratic government. The long-term security and stability of Iraq, however, rests in the hands of the Iraqis themselves."
