Sen. Ken Salazar said today he is concerned about the polarization of the country over the Iraq war and is urging President Bush to start working with the Congress to end the war.
In a letter he sent to the White House Thursday, Salazar said funding for the war should not be cut but that the president should start working with the Congress by embracing the Iraq Study Group’s report.
At a press conference in Denver today, Salazar said he’s read the study group report three times. Released last December, the report lists 79 recommendations for concluding the war in Iraq.
It was written by a bipartisan, blue-ribbon panel of mostly elderly statesmen, including two former secretaries of state, a retired Supreme Court justice and former senators and representatives.
It categorized the situation in Iraq as “grave and deteriorating” and called for bringing the troops home in the first quarter of 2008.
Bush, for the most part, has ignored the report.
“It amazes me that this report was so long-awaited, so heralded as a non-partisan, objective look at the war, yet it has never been embraced,” Salazar said.
Salazar, a Democrat, said shortly he will introduce legislation requiring implementation of the study group’s 79 recommendations.
“I appeal to you as president of the United State to move forward in a manner that develops a united effort to bring about a successful conclusion in Iraq,” the letter to Bush stated.
Talking about Bush’s refusal to cooperate with Congress, Salazar said Bush has personalized the war, making the outcome a reflection on him personally.
“The president should be working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to bring Democrats and Republicans together in a united front over Iraq,” he said.
As for Bush’s threat to veto any legislation that funds the war but places a deadline on him to withdrawal the troops from Iraq, Salazar said, “The president is playing a dangerous game of chicken. The days of the president being handed a blank check are over.”
He brushed aside the idea of waiting for a new president next year, pointing out that eight more American soldiers were reported killed Thursday in Iraq. In the past four years, a total of 3,260 Americans have been killed and roughly 25,000 Americans wounded.
He said the government has spent more than $500 billion on the war, and currently spends $6.1 billion every month on the Iraq war.
“The elections are too far away. “We could see thousands more Americans in Iraq either wounded or killed,” he said.
“People are getting tired of this polarization. I as a senator am getting tired of the polarization,” Salazar said. “There isn’t a single Democrat senator who doesn’t support the troops.”
