Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to give voice to the tens of millions of Americans throughout our country who are looking for an end to the war in Iraq.

I rise on behalf of our brave soldiers on the battlefield who have done everything our country has asked of them, under terrible circumstances, and who have made tremendous sacrifices.

I rise on behalf of their families, who have suffered great losses and who worry day and night for the safety of their loved ones still in combat.

I rise this evening to call on our President to give the nation what it has deserved for over three years -- a viable plan to safely bring this war to an end, to redeploy American forces out of Iraq, and to turn the future of Iraq over to the Iraqi people, once and for all.

President Bush is soon expected to call for an escalation of the war in Iraq, seeking to deploy an additional 20,000 troops into combat. The President’s plan would be just the latest in a series of flawed and tragic decisions that he has made regarding Iraq.

The President was advised at the outset of the war by one of his top generals to send in a larger American force in order to win. President Bush rejected that idea. Since then, he has tried at different time a surge in American troops in an effort to win the war, and each time his effort has failed. Now he appears ready to defy the odds and take great risks with the lives of others in order to try his plan once more.

The President has failed to make a compelling case for adding more troops into what is clearly the greatest American foreign policy disaster in half a century or longer.

I applaud the efforts of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who have called on the President for a new course in Iraq. On Friday they wrote, and I quote:

“Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain. Rather than deploy additional forces to Iraq, we believe the way forward is to begin the phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six months, while shifting the principal mission of our forces there from combat to training, logistics, force protection and counter-terror.” Unquote.

I implore the President to seriously consider these views.

And I implore him to also consider the views of current and former military and political leaders from his own Administration who have openly questioned sending additional troops into Iraq.

For instance, on December 17, 2006, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, “I am not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad for the purposes of suppressing this communitarian violence, this civil war, will work.”

On November 15, 2006, General Abizaid also expressed his opposition to a so-called surge. He said, quote, “I’ve met with every divisional commander. General Casey, the Corps commander, General Dempsey – we all talked together. And I said, ‘in your professional opinion, if we were to bring in more American troops now, does it add considerably to our ability to achieve success in Iraq?’ And they all said no.” Unquote.

The war in Iraq was a mistake from the beginning, and I voted against authorizing this war. But regardless of one’s position then, clearly there is no sound basis now for increasing America’s military presence in Iraq.

The war has claimed the lives of over 3,000 American soldiers and has wounded more than 20,000.

And it has clearly become a civil war.

It is unconscionable to ask one more American soldier to fight and die in a civil war in Iraq.

The President must engage key nations, like Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and others in an effort to create a political solution in Iraq.

The nation opposes the ongoing war in America. There is still time for the President to change course, to reconsider his call for 20,000 more troops in Iraq, and to begin to redeploy our forces now.

I salute those who continue to serve in Iraq, I salute their families, and I pledge to them all my unyielding support and respect as we try to safely bring this war to an end.

Mr. President, listen to the people of the nation of which you govern. They have spoken and they have spoken overwhelmingly. They reject the prolonging of the war in Iraq and they want our soldiers redeployed and brought home safely and they want it done now.

Please, Mr. President, listen to the people of this nation.