U.S. Iraq Quotes

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - Quotes on Iraq from Bush administration officials and members of Congress on Thursday, a day after he proposed sending 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq:

"To ask our young men and women to sacrifice their lives to be put in the middle of a civil war is wrong. It's, first of all, in my opinion, morally wrong. It's tactically, strategically, militarily wrong." — Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb.

"The president has a plan. He's vetted it with his military leadership. He has requested reinforcements to Anbar and to Baghdad to make this plan work. And I think it's incumbent upon us, in light of the fact that we are engaged in combat right now, that reinforcements have been requested, that they are needed." Rep. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record), R-Calif.

"Last night the president chose, fundamentally, to ignore the foundation built by the Iraq Study Group, the foundation built on a bipartisan basis here, and knowingly and willfully has divided the country yet again, and the Congress over this issue." — Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

"Americans broadly agree — and we in the administration count ourselves among them — that the situation in Iraq is unacceptable." — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"We can't afford to continue this course. I have consistently called for the redeployment of our military from Iraq, but now Congress must use its main power — the power of the purse — to put an end to our involvement in this disastrous war." — Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis.

"American patience is limited, and obviously if the Iraqis fail to maintain their commitments we'll have to revisit our strategy." — Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

"I fear that what the president has proposed is more likely to make things worse." — Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del.

"It seems as though a solution to the problem is always six months away." — Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill.

"We've got a mess on our hands in Iraq. The time for a so-called surge in troop numbers was back in 2003." — House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (news, bio, voting record), D-Mo.