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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) issued the following statement today in response to General David Petraeus' testimony before a joint hearing of the House Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees.
"General Petraeus' contention that violence is dramatically down in parts of Iraq ignores the fact that this summer was the deadliest summer for American soldiers in Iraq since the war began. The overall security situation in Iraq has not changed since the troop escalation plan began at the beginning of this year.
"President Bush said the main point of his troop escalation plan was to create the stability to allow the Iraqi government to meet the 18 benchmarks he himself outlined. According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), only three of the 18 benchmarks have been met.
"General Petraeus said today that he believes the troop escalation plan needs to stay in place until the summer of 2008. I completely reject that notion. We should set a definite date for withdrawal of all U.S. troops by the spring of 2008. The Iraqi government is not going to make any tough decisions until it is blatantly clear that the American troop presence there is coming to an end soon. We should begin bringing our troops home now, and finish the process by next spring."
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