FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 05, 2006

CONTACT: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider 202-226-7616

Democrats Release New Report on Bush National Security Failures

Third Way report makes clear dangerous cost of Bush Republican policies, need to change course

Washington, D.C.—With President Bush touring the country on a new public relations campaign designed to sell his national security policies to the American people, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, and Senator Thomas Carper today joined General Wesley Clark and Sharon Burke, Director of the Third Way National Security Project to release "the Neo Con," a new report analyzing the dangerous effects Republican policies have had on the security of the nation. Prepared by Third Way, the study is a damning indictment of Bush Republican failure and incompetence that has left America less safe five years after September 11, 2001.

The new report throws the national security failures of the Bush Administration and its Rubber Stamp Republican Congress into harsh relief. Shockingly, despite repeated rhetoric from the White House citing the new realities of the post-9/11 world, Bush Republican incompetence has left America vulnerable in an increasingly unstable world.  Bogged down in Iraq with its military stretched thin, America now finds itself less able to fight and win the war on terror. Around the world, Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea have grown more dangerous. Meanwhile, terrorist attacks around the world have rapidly multiplied.

“We took a hard look at the numbers,” said Burke, “and the numbers don’t lie – the Bush strategy is not working.”

With the five-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks fast approaching, the report serves as a sobering reminder that the President and his Republican Congress have failed to learn the lessons of that terrible day. In a study cited in "the Neo Con," 86% of National Security experts interviewed by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy magazine rate the world as more dangerous for the US and Americans; 83% disagree that the United States is winning the war on terror. A copy of “the Neo Con” can be found online here.

“The facts do not lie,” said Senator Reid today. “Under the Bush Administration and this Republican Congress, America is less safe, facing greater threats, and unprepared for the dangerous world in which we live. This new report is a stunning indictment of Bush foreign policy, and it makes a clear case for the new direction we need to keep America safe.”

“This report makes clear that the policies of the Bush Administration have failed to make the American people as safe as they should be,” said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. “It provides compelling evidence that the war in Iraq has weakened our military, hindered efforts to defeat terrorism, and diverted attention and resources from crucial security challenges.  Anyone who reads the report will come to the inescapable conclusion: America needs a new direction.”

“The majority party in power fails to understand the basic concept of fighting terror: We can't dry up the wellspring of hatred which is driving terrorist recruiting by making more enemies than friends,” said General Clark, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander. “Their arrogance and incompetence prevents the powers that be from authoring the change in direction we need. The Democratic party offers America the best chance to turn things around and set a new course towards strategic success in the war on terror.”

“Democrats have been leading our nation in the battle for democracy for over a century,” said House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer.  “From Wilson, to FDR, to Truman, to Kennedy to Clinton, Democrats have been holding the torch of freedom to light the way for other nations long before the Republican Party joined the fight. That is a tradition that we continue here today.  This report details how President Bush and the Republican Congress have failed to make us as safe as we should be, and we hope that by pointing out these failures we can force a change in course.”

“The bi-partisan 9/11 Commission came through with specific recommendations to make America safe, and we still haven’t managed to meet those goals,” said Senator Durbin.  “They continue to give this Administration failing grades when it comes to a communication network for police and fire fighters and emergency medical responders. They give it failing grades on the protection of our ports, the protection of chemical and nuclear facilities. As this new report makes clear, there is a lot more that needs to be done to make America safe.  The lesson of 9/11 should be a reminder to Congress that we’ve got to get down to the business of making America safer at home.”

Said Senator Carper, “as this report by Third Way shows, President Bush’s policies have made us less safe, not more secure.  Instead of playing politics with the war on terror and trying to score points against Democrats, the President needs to reach out to members of both parties and forge a new direction that will make the United States, and the rest of the world, a safer place.”

Five years after 9/11, the American people will no longer tolerate incompetent and failed Republican policies that put their security at risk, and they want a real change. Democrats are fighting to take this country in a new direction, and remain committed to the tough AND smart policies needed to finally give Americans the real security they deserve and demand.

“ Democrats are united in presenting a New Direction for America, one that will make our nation as strong as its people, one that brings opportunity, security, and prosperity to all Americans. ”

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi