Johnson Comments Prior to Bush Speech

Press Release

Johnson Comments Prior to Bush Speech

This evening, President George W. Bush will address the nation from the Oval Office of the White House and announce his support of the General Petraeus update on Iraq. Johnson released the following statement Thursday afternoon:

Tonight, President Bush is expected to announce that he plans to pull back troop levels to the pre-surge level. This drawdown of 30,000 troops will still leave roughly 130,000 American soldiers on the ground in Iraq.

Many of these 30,000 troops are facing the end of their deployment and will come home as expected, and frankly, we do not have the manpower necessary to replace them. It is not a strategy to reduce troop levels when our hands are tied and additional rotations would push our military to its limits.

Our troops and their families are exhausted. The Petraeus report is mixed, at best. We are treading water in Iraq and the clock keeps ticking in a war that has lasted longer than World War II.

It is time for the Iraqi people to take charge of their future and for us to transition our troops to training Iraqi security forces and conducting counter-terrorism operations.

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