Woolsey Calls Iraq Study Group’s Report “Too Little, Too Late”December 6, 2006
Washington, DC - A leading voice in Washington against the continued occupation of Iraq, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) today expressed her disappointment with this morning’s Iraq Study Group report. The commission, which was created by President Bush and led by longtime Bush ally and former Secretary of State James Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton, was charged with proposing options for bringing an end to the occupation of Iraq. Woolsey, who was the first Member to call for a withdrawal from Iraq in January of 2005, was not impressed:
“Today’s report says little, and does even less, to bring our troops home.
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The voters who elected the Democrats to the majority on November 7th didn’t tell Democrats to simply work with the President, or to wait for a commission to tell us what to do. No, the voters told the Democrats to correct the President, to challenge the President, and to confront the President on the most challenging and moral issue of our day.
“I agree with the commission that we must engage in regional talks - in fact it says a lot about the state of our diplomatic affairs when it takes an outside group to push our President on the importance of talking with other nations. It has been President Bush’s stubborn, shortsighted refusal to engage diplomatically with the heads of state in the Middle East and Persian Gulf - adversaries as well as allies - that has resulted in America getting even further bogged down in the Iraqi quagmire.
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The Congress must stand up to our responsibility and bring every pressure to bear on this Administration, and hold President Bush accountable. We must use every available avenue to hold the Administration responsible for their immeasurable failures in Iraq. This isn’t just another priority for the new Congress. According to the voters who have elected us, this is the 110th Congress’ most solemn duty.
“Unfortunately, this report’s recommendations fail to provide a sensible plan to bring our troops home.
We simply cannot continue to wait, hoping that the situation on the ground will get better, as every day we are there the situation worsens. We must bring our troops home, immediately.”
http://woolsey.house.gov/latestnews.asp?ARTICLE5110=66531