Carl Levin: Levin Statement on President Bush’s Address on Iraq

September 13, 2007 -- WASHINGTON – Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., made this statement following President Bush’s address on Iraq this evening:

“My fear was that the President would present only an illusion of change in an effort to prevent a real change in course in Iraq from occurring – and my fear was borne out.

“Simply bringing our troop levels back to the pre-surge level – with no commitment to further reductions, no change of mission to get our troops out of the middle of a civil war, and no plan to pressure the Iraqi political leaders to take responsibility for their own future and to reach a political settlement to end the violence – shows that the President intends to just ‘stay the course’ in a war that has not achieved, and is not achieving, its objectives.

“There is no easy solution to the crisis in Iraq, but we know that the current course isn’t working. It is my hope that, in the coming weeks, we in Congress will be able to join together across party lines to enact a meaningful and long overdue change in course.”

Source: Senator Carl Levin