Reid and Pelosi to Bush: No More Troops to Iraq

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are wasting no time rejecting any notion of escalating the war in Iraq with a troop increase, sending a letter to George W. Bush this morning telling him that "Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain."

An excerpt from the letter:

The start of the new Congress brings us opportunities to work together on the critical issues confronting our country. No issue is more important than finding an end to the war in Iraq. December was the deadliest month of the war in over two years, pushing U.S. fatality figures over the 3,000 mark.

The American people demonstrated in the November elections that they don’t believe your current Iraq policy will lead to success and that we need a change in direction for the sake of our troops and the Iraqi people. We understand that you are completing your post-election consultations on Iraq and are preparing to make a major address on your Iraq strategy to the American people next week.

Clearly this address presents you with another opportunity to make a long overdue course correction. Despite the fact that our troops have been pushed to the breaking point and, in many cases, have already served multiple tours in Iraq, news reports suggest that you believe the solution to the civil war in Iraq is to require additional sacrifices from our troops and are therefore prepared to proceed with a substantial U.S. troop increase.

Surging forces is a strategy that you have already tried and that has already failed.

You can read the entire letter at Speaker Pelosi's web site and see for yourself that, despite the camaraderie displayed yesterday in the first day of the 110th Congress, the era of the do-nothing GOP House and Senate has clearly come to an end.