Washington - This morning, the U.S. Senate voted to block the Levin-Reed amendment to safely transition our troops out of Iraq. This marks the third time this week that Republicans have led a defeat of legislation to support the troops and change course in Iraq. Earlier this week, the Webb amendment to give troops longer stays at home before deployment and the Feingold amendment to redeploy the troops from Iraq were defeated.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today said that by continuing to stand behind the president on Iraq, Republicans must take responsibility for the war's results:
"The Iraq war policy has been an unmitigated fiasco - every day, more Americans die, the military is stretched thinner and peace in Iraq remains out of reach. My Republican colleagues have had chance after chance to stand with us and the vast majority of Americans, who have had enough of the president's false promises. But time after time the Republicans have voted to stay the course. As this war continues down its dead-end path, they cannot dodge accountability.
"The current course has put Osama bin Laden back in business, and it could prevent our overstretched military from responding to other threats around the world. It keeps 130,000 Americans in another country's civil war with no end in sight. Not until the Iraqi government and security forces actually believe we won't be there forever will they take control of their own country. A transition of our mission is overdue. Americans are fed up with this failed war policy, and I will continue to stand up to those who will not consider a change in course."
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