Washington - U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who voted against the original war authorization in 2002 and has consistently pushed to transition the troops home, released the following statement today after President Obama announced a new Iraq plan:

"For six years, the Iraq War has cost our nation thousands of sons and daughters, upward of a trillion taxpayer dollars and a significant amount of our national security. This plan constitutes a badly-needed new direction to our costly engagement in Iraq, but there are some questions as to whether it forges that new direction quickly enough."

"Without a doubt, as someone who voted against the original authorization to begin the war and who has consistently supported measures that would help bring our troops home, a real change in our Iraq policy like this one has been a long time coming. I do have concerns that the residual forces left in Iraq after combat operations have ended will be larger than may be necessary. Going forward, I will look to the Department of Defense to provide justification for the troop level timetable and, at the very least, to prevent this timetable from slipping."

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