[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 14493]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS TO AMERICA

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, whatever our position on the Iraq war, we 
should all be concerned that the President does not have a winning 
strategy on Iraq. Our current strategy is not working, and Congress and 
the American people know it. I say this with sorrow and regret for our 
troops, for their families, and for our country.
  Administration officials repeatedly claim that the insurgents are 
desperate, dead-enders, and in their last throes. The American people 
know they are not. Secretary Rumsfeld insists progress has been solid. 
With American casualties currently averaging nearly three a day, the 
American people know it is not. Secretary Rumsfeld insists the Army is 
not being stretched to the breaking point, but month after month 
recruiting goals go unmet and generals are sounding the alarm. 
Secretary Rumsfeld insists that we are not in a quagmire. The American 
people believe we are.
  Secretary Rumsfeld says the administration is not painting a rosy 
picture. The American people know that they are. By last June, after 
the President declared mission accomplished, 852 American 
servicemembers had been killed in action. Today, the number has doubled 
to more than 1,700. By last June, 5,000 American servicemembers had 
been wounded in action. Today, the number has nearly tripled to over 
13,000. A year ago, the United States had 34 coalition partners in 
Iraq. Today, we have just 25, and another 5 are scheduled to pull out 
by the end of the year.
  The administration has been consistently wrong about Iraq. The 
American people know things are not going well and that we need to 
correct the course we are on. The administration statements do not 
square with reality, and the credibility gap continues to widen. It is 
ironic that Americans are learning the truth not from our own 
administration but from an ally. The truth should come from the White 
House and not Downing Street.
  More than anything else, what America hopes to hear from the 
President tonight is the unvarnished truth of what is really going on 
in Iraq, how he plans to put a new strategy in place and assure 
success. He needs to clearly articulate our goals, the benchmarks for 
measuring progress, and the game plan to win. When President Bush 
addresses the Nation tonight, all of us hope he will state a new and 
more realistic and more effective strategy for the United States to 
succeed in Iraq.
  Our current strategy is not worthy of the sacrifices our men and 
women in uniform are making. The war has clearly made America less safe 
in the world. It has strengthened the support for al-Qaida and made it 
harder to win the real war against terrorism, the war against al-Qaida.
  The President needs an effective strategy to accelerate the training 
of a capable Iraqi security force. The President needs an effective 
strategy to rescue the faltering reconstruction effort, create new 
jobs, new hope for the Iraqi people, and neutralize the temptation to 
join the insurgents. The President needs an effective strategy to bring 
the international community into Iraq and to achieve the adoption on 
schedule of a constitution that protects all the people of Iraq. He 
needs an effective strategy to give our troops the equipment they need 
to fight the war and to ensure that veterans returning from Iraq have 
access to the quality health care services they so richly deserve. He 
needs an effective strategy to repair the damage the war has caused to 
our military and to our reputation in the world.
  Realism is hard medicine to swallow. President Bush must face the 
facts and accept them. Our men and women in uniform deserve no less. 
Our strategy is not working, and I hope the President will outline a 
winning strategy this evening.

                          ____________________