Harry Reid says Bush 'a liar'

April 25, 2007

Washington, D.C. - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defended calling the war in Iraq "lost" Monday and called President Bush a liar.

"General Petreaus has said the war cannot be won militarily, he's said that," Reid said. "And President Bush is doing nothing economically, he's doing nothing diplomatically, he's not doing anything even the minimal requested by the Iraq Study Group, so I stick with General Petreaus. I have no doubt the war cannot be won militarily and that's what I said last Thursday and I stick with that."

His comments have triggered angry backlash from the White House and a number of Republican congressmen.

"I do what I think is right, and I think this war is headed in the wrong direction," Reid said. "And I'm going to speak out as often and as regularly as I can."

Reid has been an outspoken critic of the president, calling him a loser and a liar in the past.

"I don't back off that at all," he said. "So if you say something that is untrue to me and in the right circumstances, I will call you a liar. I have no regret having called him a liar, because he lied."

In a speech in Washington Monday, Reid said Congress would sent a war supplemental spending bill that would require a withdrawal of troops to be begin by October 1 and be completed by April 1, 2008, according to the Associated Press.

President Bush on Monday reiterated his vow to veto any legislation that includes a withdrawal timetable.