Joe Biden: Senator Biden Responds To President Bush's Speech On Iraq

August 22, 2007 -- Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement today after President Bush’s speech at the Annual Convention for the Veterans of Foreign Wars:

"President Bush continues to cling to a fundamentally flawed premise – that Iraqis will rally behind a strong central government. That will not happen. There’s no trust within the Iraqi government; no trust of the government by the Iraqi people; no capacity of that government to deliver security or services; and no prospect that it will build that trust or capacity any time soon. Unless Iraq moves towards a federal system that gives the warring factions breathing room, we will end up trading a dictator for chaos that will set back our national security interests for a generation. President Bush today attempted to draw an analogy to Vietnam, but in fact it’s the President’s policies that are pushing us toward another Saigon moment – with helicopters fleeing the roof of our embassy – which he says he wants to avoid.

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“The President also continues to play the American people for fools – conflating the terrorists of 9/11 with Al Qaeda in Iraq today. Al Qaeda in Iraq didn't exist before we invaded – it is a Bush fulfilling prophecy.”

Source: Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr.