Mr. President, earlier this week marked the five year anniversary of President Bush signing the congressional resolution that authorized him to use military force in Iraq. That resolution has proved to be a disaster for our country, opening the door to a war that has undermined our top national security priority – the fight against al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Five years after the authorization of war, America is mired in a conflict that continues to have no end in sight. Nearly 4,000 of our soldiers have died and more than 27,000 have been wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed, if not more, and at least 4.5 million have been displaced from their homes. The region is more unstable and our credibility throughout the international community has been significantly damaged. We have spent over a half trillion dollars and stretched our military to the breaking point. Who knows how many more billions will be spent and how many brave Americans will die while the President pursues a military solution to problems that can only be resolved by a political settlement in Iraq.

At the same time, al Qaeda has reconstituted itself along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and has developed new affiliates around the globe. Al Qaeda has been strengthened - not weakened - since we authorized military action against -- and then went to war in -- Iraq.

Indeed, this senseless war has made us more vulnerable, not more secure. And yet it continues endlessly with only a small, token drawdown of forces expected in the coming months and no timeline from this administration as to when more troops will come home.

The American people know that this war doesn’t make sense. They expect us to do everything in our power to end it. That doesn’t mean neglecting domestic priorities, and there are plenty of those to address. But it does mean that we cannot in good conscience put Iraq on the backburner. We cannot simply tell ourselves, and our constituents, that we have done everything we could. Finding the votes to end this war is not an easy task, but for the sake of the country, we must keep trying. I, for one, am not prepared to say in mid-October, with weeks to go before we adjourn for the year, that Iraq can wait until we come back in 2008.

Believe me, the administration and its supporters would like nothing better than to change the subject from Iraq. Every time that we insist on debates and votes on Iraq, they complain loudly that we are taking time away from the country’s true priorities. As we were reminded last November, however, ending the disastrous Iraq war is one of the American people’s top priorities. It may well be their top priority, and we owe it to them to make it ours, as well.

While the administration continues to refuse to acknowledge that we have severely strayed off course, the war drags on and on and more brave American soldiers are being wounded or killed. But it is not only the President and his administration that is at fault. Many of my colleagues here in Congress have expressed concerns about the war but refused to take action to end it. They have prevented Congress from acting to secure our country and restore our global leadership.

I will not stand idly by while this mistaken war continues. I will continue working to end this war and bring our troops home, and I will continue looking in the days and weeks ahead for opportunities to debate and vote on ending the war – this year, and, if necessary, next as well. My colleagues may complain, they may be inconvenienced, they may prefer to focus on other matters. But this Congress has no greater priority than making right the mistake it made five years ago when it authorized this misguided war. I do not want to have to come to the floor again in a year to mark another anniversary of the war’s authorization, and to again implore my colleagues to act. I do not want the American people to lose faith in their elected leaders for pursuing a war that they rightly oppose. And I do not want more American troops to be killed for a war that does not serve our national security interests.