U.S. Senator Susan Collins released the following statement on thePresident’s speech tonight on the strategy in Iraq. Senator Collins is a Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"We cannot continue to pursue an open-ended, unconditional commitment of troops in Iraq.
“While I welcome the modest draw-down of our troops that the President has ordered, it is not a sufficient response to the lack of political reform by Iraqi leaders. Under the President's plan, we are likely to have the same number of troops 10 months from now as we did 10 months ago.
"I continue to believe that an immediate change in mission is needed, which would allow a far more significant but responsible reduction in the number of our troops deployed in Iraq. We should not wait another six months to change the mission.
"The proposal that Senator Ben Nelson and I have advocated would transition our troops out of most combat roles and instead focus on counter-terrorism operations, border security, training Iraqi troops, and protecting Americans. It is similar to the strategy recommended by the Iraq Study Group and General Jones' Commission. As Congress considers this issue, I hope that our bipartisan proposal will continue to gain the support that would allow many more of our troops to begin coming home."
###