WASHINGTON, DC – Reacting to recent news reports of Bush Administration changes in Iraq strategy, Representative George Miller (D-CA) said today that President Bush owes an apology to all those who have called for a new course in Iraq, and that he must make real changes in policy that will begin to get American troops home and bring the war to an end.

“For over three years President Bush has arrogantly impugned the loyalty and integrity of every single critic who dared to question his failed policy in Iraq, saying that they wanted to ‘cut and run’ and would aid the terrorists. But now with the war effort clearly failing the President is signaling a change in Iraq policy, without actually calling it that.

“The President owes every critic of his failed policy in Iraq an apology for denouncing them simply because they dared to disagree with him,” said Miller. “He owes an apology to every American general, every soldier’s mother and father, and every member of Congress who spoke up to question the failed approach in Iraq and who received in return the most vile, undemocratic and arrogant retribution from this President and his administration officials.

“The President has repeatedly attacked anyone who suggested that his administration establish timelines for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. I myself suggested we do this over a year ago. Now we’re learning that both a blue ribbon bi-partisan panel advising the President on Iraq and senior officials at the Pentagon are recommending we lay out a timeline for the draw down of U.S. forces. Yet the President refuses to own up to the fact that it’s time we change course, choosing instead to say we might need to change a few ‘tactics.’ It’s time to stop the spinning and start telling the truth.

“The President had this war wrong from the beginning. He argued that American forces would leave when Iraqi forces took over, without ever acknowledging that Iraqi forces would never take control as long American forces remained in place. His policy has been ineffective, dangerous and deadly, and is now unraveling, adding even greater risk to our soldiers and to the United States,” Miller said.

October has claimed more American lives in one month in Iraq than any other since the fall of Baghdad and the death toll for Iraqi civilians is steadily increasing. In the face of overwhelming bad news from Iraq, President Bush huddled with his top officials over the weekend and has announced what they are calling routine ‘tactical’ changes to their approach. One White House official even dared to say on CBS News that the President’s policy has never been to ‘stay the course,’ despite the innumerable times when the President and his aides have said directly that their policy was to ‘stay the course.’

“The President owes it to America’s soldiers and to their families to stop vilifying critics of the war in Iraq and start making smart decisions about how to bring the war safely to an end,” Miller said. “He would never listen to those who disagreed with him, and American soldiers have paid the highest price for the President’s arrogance. Now it is time for a new direction in Iraq and an end to the blind loyalty this President has demanded from his constituents, the American people and their elected representatives.”

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