WASHINGTON, DC- U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) issued the following statement today on the Senate's vote to finally move forward and have a full debate on Iraq:
"After more than a month of obstruction, I am pleased that the Senate finally voted today to move forward with a full floor debate on Iraq. We owe it to the American people, our troops, and the families of our fallen heroes to have a debate on our policy in a war that is about to enter its fifth year.
"The resolution before us today draws from the bipartisan Baker-Hamilton Commission and echoes much of what I have said needs to be done on Iraq. We need benchmarks and we need to shift the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq away from combat roles toward training and support roles as well as conducting counter-terrorism operations. And I have said that we need a political solution in Iraq -- General Petraeus recently agreed with this statement when he said that a political solution will determine success in Iraq.
"The situation on the ground in Iraq has changed greatly in the last year. However, the underlying Bush policy in Iraq is more of the same: stay the course and continuing to not level with the American people. "
