Edwards Campaign Press Release - Edwards Calls On Congress To Stand Firm On Iraq - "No Timetable, No Funding. No Excuses"

Congress must stop playing the Beltway game, stand up to President Bush

Chapel Hill, North Carolina – In advance of General Petraeus' report to Congress this week on the situation in Iraq and on the heels of a new GAO report showing a worsening situation in Iraq and attempts by the Pentagon to change the report's conclusions, Senator John Edwards held a conference call with reporters where he called on Congress to stand up to President Bush and end the war.

"President Bush wants everyone to keep playing the Beltway game. But this isn't a game - lives are at stake," said Edwards. "Young men and women are dying almost every day and Iraq is descending further into civil war. It's time to end the game – we can't wait. Congress must tell the president something very simple: No timetable, no funding. No excuses."

As part of a new effort to pressure Congress to stand firm against the president's new funding request and his failed Iraq strategy, the Edwards campaign announced a grassroots effort calling on all Americans to join in his simple message. With the help of supporters, the campaign will place an ad in newspaper Roll Call to remind Congress to stand up and insist: "No timetable, no funding. No excuses."

"I'm calling on Congress to refrain from bickering about benchmarks and stop playing the Beltway game," Edwards continued. "Congress must stand up to the president's policy, reject the incremental triangulation we see inside Washington, and solve the problem in Iraq."

Edwards also said that if President Bush vetoes a bill with a timetable for withdrawal, Congress should send it back to him as many times as it takes for the president to understand that he can't defy the will of the American people.

During the call, Edwards noted that leading figures, including Senator John Warner and General Peter Pace, have recently begun to echo his call for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Edwards has called for the immediate withdrawal of 40,000-50,000 troops from Iraq and the withdrawal of all combat troops within the next year.

Edwards said that an immediate withdrawal of troops would jump-start the political process and suggested that Congress pressure General Petraeus over what progress our military policy has made towards achieving a political solution in Iraq.

"Instead of focusing on this benchmark or that benchmark and whether there's progress, no progress, or partial progress, what should be asked is the basic question of whether there's been any serious moves to a political solution," said Edwards. "Because everyone recognizes there cannot be stability and peace in Iraq unless some comprehensive political solution is reached."