WASHINGTON, DC – In light of yesterday’s shift in rhetoric by the White House on U.S. policy in Iraq, Congressman George Miller (D-CA) called on President Bush to explain immediately what the U.S. strategy is for success in Iraq.

“President Bush has repeated over and over again that America’s policy in Iraq is to ‘stay the course,’ but in a dramatic rhetorical shift he and his advisors now say that their policy is not and has never been to stay the course,” said Miller. “What the American people need to know now, and what our soldiers on the ground need to know now, is whether the President intends to continue current policy or make a significant change – regardless of what it is labeled.”

Miller said he is very concerned that it appears that not only does the President not have a strategy for success in Iraq in place but that he is hoping to avoid having to make any real decisions on the ground until after the November 7 elections.

“Is the administration making a rhetorical assault now in an effort to get past the November elections?” Miller asked. “Or, after three years and nine ‘new’ plans for Iraq, is the President finally admitting that his course in Iraq has failed?

“Setting benchmarks for the Iraqi government three years into the war means the President has had it wrong from the beginning,” Miller said. “The president repeatedly said that Americans will stand down when the Iraqis stand up. He has had it backwards from the beginning. When America stands down, maybe the Iraqis will stand up. When America stands down, maybe Iraq’s neighbors will stand up. But until then, American forces will continue to be the focus of attacks in Iraq, American tax dollars will continue to get sucked down the drain in Iraq, and America will remain less safe.

“Stay the course has been a failure in name and in practice,” Miller said. “What is taking its place? The President has not come clean with the American people and time is running out for him to do so.”

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