Democrats Attack Iraq Strategy

"What we heard today was a commitment to the status quo -- a status quo that is not working," Pelosi said. "The President did not have a plan for victory when he went into his war of choice in Iraq, and he did not have a plan for victory today. The American people expected that the president would do more today than just put a new cover and 35 pages of rhetoric on old sound bites."

Bush "fails to understand that a new course is needed in Iraq" and instead has "dug us into a deep hole," she said. "It is time for him to stop digging."

But Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) called the speech "a step in the right direction" that "begins to address the Senate's call for a successful exit strategy with measurable benchmarks." He said, "I look forward to hearing more, including information about the specific benchmarks we expect to achieve, and when we expect to achieve them."

Republican lawmakers voiced strong support for the speech and strategy document.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said, "I hope the partisan claims that our military does not have a plan in Iraq will cease. We are making significant progress training Iraqi security forces which will allow American forces to return home. However, we must not prematurely leave Iraq, which would be a disaster for Iraq and for our security."

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Tex.) said, "The only exit strategy for Iraq is victory, and we will not leave the Iraqis defenseless until they have the full capacity to protect themselves."

In his news conference, Kerry said Bush is ignoring advice from Iraqi leaders and his own generals, including the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., who said in recent congressional testimony that the large U.S. military presence in Iraq is helping to fuel the insurgency.

"General Casey has said very clearly that it is the large presence of American forces on the ground that feeds the insurgency and makes it more difficult for the Iraqis to assume responsibility because they don't have to," Kerry told reporters. "The president did not acknowledge that today, but gave us the same talk about simply staying as long as it takes to get them [Iraqi forces] to stand up." He cited a poll showing that 45 percent of Iraqis "believe it is all right to injure and kill Americans" and that 80 percent "want us to withdraw."

Kerry added, "So what the president did not acknowledge today at all is that the presence of our troops itself is a part of the current reality on the ground that presents food for the insurgency. And you need to reduce that presence over a period of time in order to be able to succeed, not fail." He said no senator wants the United States to "leave a failed state or to withdraw precipitously," but that "in the end, the strategy for exit is in fact part of the strategy for success."

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he agreed with Bush that the United States should not set a firm timetable for withdrawal, but he expressed support for "measurable goals" -- such as levels of Iraqi troops capable of operating independently -- that would provide the benchmarks for a staged U.S. drawdown.

"I believe we can only draw down when we have a plan in place that tells us we're getting to our stated objective," Nelson said on CNN. "I think we all want to stay the course," he said. "What we want to know is what the course is and what it's going to take in terms of preparation."

Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.) condemned Bush's plan as "filled with the same rhetoric we've all heard before." Noting that the strategy document says it "articulates the broad strategy the President set forth in 2003," Feingold said, "That alone makes it clear that the president seems more dug in than ever to the same old 'stay the course' way of thinking. This is not a strategy, and it certainly is not a plan to complete the military mission in Iraq."

Feingold said in a statement, "We need leadership, and we need a policy on Iraq that includes a flexible timetable for completing our military mission there, so that we can focus on our national security priority -- defeating the global terrorist networks that threaten the U.S. The president missed a vital opportunity today."

Feingold has introduced a resolution calling on the administration to provide what he calls a "flexible, public timetable" for the U.S. mission in Iraq, with Dec. 31, 2006, set as a "target date to complete the military mission there."