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Today while speaking in Aliquippa, PA Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on President Bush to use his speech tomorrow to talk about the endgame for the Iraq war. “I have two requests of President Bush for his speech on Thursday. First, I call on the President to answer the question that General Petraeus did not. What is our end game in Iraq given the failure of surge to achieve the objective that the president outlined for it? Second, I call on President Bush to pledge to the American people, who have sacrificed greatly for this effort that the United States Congress will have the chance to review and vote on any long-term security agreement he has negotiated with the Iraqis,” Clinton said.

She continued, “President Bush must not saddle the next president with an agreement that extends our involvement in Iraq beyond his presidency. We have lost more than 4,000 of our best sons and daughters. They have given their lives in service to our country in honor and for the objective of giving the Iraqi people the greatest gift another human being can bestow – the gift of freedom. Tens of thousands of our young men and women have suffered – wounds both visible and invisible – to their bodies, their minds and their hearts.”

I think that President Bush knows that his only hope of being proven correct on the war in Iraq is to keep the conflict going. Leaving Iraq is akin to admitting that he was wrong to go there, and as we know, this president does not admit mistakes. Clinton is correct, President Bush shouldn’t saddle the next president with a long term security agreement with Iraq, but we all know that is exactly what he is going to do. As far as an endgame is concerned, Republicans have no endgame for Iraq. Their only plan is to keep throwing soldiers and money at the problem, and hope for something that they can sell to the American people as a win. It seems that most Republicans have committed themselves to sticking with this war until its bitter, bloody end.

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Hillary Clinton’s remarks:

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=6987