Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold Feingold: Cheerleading Is No Substitute for Leadership August 24, 2005 I join the President in thanking our military servicemen and women and their families for their courage and sacrifice. I also believe that they deserve more than our thanks and admiration. They also deserve sound national security policy, and they are not getting that right now. I agree with the President that simply immediately withdrawing from Iraq is a mistake but I don’t think we can afford to simply accept the Bush administration’s urging to “stay the course.” The President’s course is losing the confidence of the American people, driving the U.S. Army to the breaking point, and providing alarming opportunities for terrorist networks. I have proposed a target date for bringing U.S. forces home from Iraq --December 31, 2006-- putting a vision of when this ends on the table in the hope that we can place our Iraq policy in the context of a global effort against terrorism, rather than letting it dominate our security strategy and drain vital security resources for an unlimited amount of time. Cheerleading is no substitute for leadership and a national security strategy that makes our country stronger and our enemies weaker. We still need a clear statement of our remaining military mission in Iraq, an honest assessment of when this mission can be accomplished, and a convincing explanation of how it fits into a broader strategy to prevail in the fight against terrorism.

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