Reid says Bush in 'state of denial' over Iraq

April 25, 2007

Washington, D.C. - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that President Bush is in a "state of denial" over the war in Iraq and must listen to the majority of Americans who want U.S. combat troops to leave.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that President Bush is in a state of denial over the war in Iraq and must listen to the majority of Americans who want U.S. combat troops to leave.

"No more will Congress turn a blind eye to the Bush administration's incompetence and dishonesty."

Reid, D-Nev., laid out a Democratic plan for what he called a "responsible, strategically driven redeployment" of most American troops as part of a long-term strategy he said would have a better chance of leaving behind a stable, democratic Iraq than Bush's ongoing deployment of more soldiers and Marines.

He said Congress should give Iraqis "tangible, measurable and achievable benchmarks" to meet, and demand a regional conference with Iraq's neighbors to help settle the conflict.

Reid criticized a Friday speech in which the president asserted that despite last week's bloody wave of bombings, U.S. troops were making progress against the sectarian warfare that has plagued Baghdad and that "the direction of the fight is beginning to shift."

"The White House transcript says the president made those remarks in the state of Michigan," Reid said. "I believe he made them in the state of denial."