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Pelosi Statement on Maliki's Call for a Timetable on U.S. Troops Withdrawing from Iraq

July 8, 2008

Contact:Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today about Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's call for a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq:

"President Bush refuses to heed the clear warnings of our military leaders about the harmful impact the war in Iraq is having on the readiness of our armed forces and our country's ability to fight the real war on terrorism in Afghanistan and around the world.

"A bipartisan majority in Congress - representing the wishes of the American people -- supports a timetable for redeployment as an essential step in ending the Iraq war, refocusing on the real war on terrorism, rebuilding our military and reinvesting in job creation and other critical priorities here at home. The President has refused to even consider taking steps toward ending a war that has now cost more than 4,100 American lives, seriously wounded tens of thousands of our troops, and cost taxpayers trillions of dollars.

"President Bush refuses to listen to Congress or the American people, but he cannot support Iraqi political reconciliation and security and ignore Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki's call for a timetable for the withdrawal."