A Timetable to Redeploy Troops from Iraq Milwaukee Journal Sentinel October 29, 2006 This has been an especially violent and deadly month in Iraq, with U.S. casualties at their highest levels in two years. This tragic loss of life has caused a number of prominent Republicans to acknowledge that the administration's "stay the course" approach isn't working. But rather than heeding their advice and changing course, President Bush seems more intent on repackaging his failed strategy. By refusing to set a timetable for the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq, the president continues to overlook the serious threats that face our country around the world. As I have argued for over a year, a timetable for the redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq will help pressure the Iraqis to get their political house in order and will help the U.S. military refocus on defeating the global terrorist networks that threaten us. The president is one of the few people left who believes our current approach in Iraq is working. The administration's own intelligence agencies, in the recently declassified findings of the National Intelligence Estimate, have concluded that the war in Iraq is making us less safe. The Iraq intervention has been a disaster, but the administration refuses to admit its mistake and acknowledge the harm that has been done - and is being done - to our national security. If we remain bogged down in Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with 9-11, we will be incapable of addressing the terrorist networks that have developed new capabilities and found new sources of support throughout the world. One of those emerging threats is the resurgence of the Taliban and growing instability in Afghanistan. The U.S. was right to invade Afghanistan, where the Taliban were sheltering Osama bin Laden. Unfortunately, the administration then decided to put Afghanistan on the back burner and focus so much of its attention and resources on Iraq. If we don't strengthen our efforts to defeat the Taliban and to create long-term stability in Afghanistan and the region, Afghanistan will remain what it was on Sept. 11 - a haven for those who seek to harm our country and a source of instability that threatens our national security. We have also taken our eye off other emerging threats around the world in countries like Iran, North Korea and Somalia. To truly be safer, we must correct the administration's failed Iraqcentric policies that have overstretched our military and distracted us from the fight against al-Qaida and other global terrorist networks. We shouldn't have gone to war in Iraq. We can't undo that decision, but we can work to put things right by acknowledging that it is not in our interests to maintain a massive troop presence in that country. At my listening sessions around Wisconsin and everywhere I go around the country, people are tired of the administration's head-in-the-sand approach to the worsening situation in Iraq. People want to make our country safer. They want to get our troops out of Iraq, and that's exactly what a timetable would achieve. It's time to stop paying such a terrible price for the mistakes that were made. We must create a timetable to redeploy our troops, and refocus our resources on the threats to our national security around the world.