WASHINGTON, March 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq:
"Today marks the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq .
"We honor our fallen men and women, their comrades who have returned home, and those who continue to serve in Iraq , Afghanistan and in other parts of the world. They have performed their duties excellently, with bravery, with dignity and with honor. We also thank their families, whose quiet sacrifice for our nation can never be fully repaid.
"With the war in Iraq entering its sixth year, Americans are rightly concerned about how much longer our nation must continue to sacrifice our security for the sake of an Iraqi government that is unwilling or unable to secure its own future.
"The human cost of the war has been enormous, with nearly 4,000 lives lost and tens of thousands injured, many of them permanently. The cost to our national security has been immense -- our military is stretched thin and our reputation in the world is damaged. And now, the war in Iraq has become a threat to our economy, with its colossal cost to taxpayers taking us more deeply into debt.
"It is for our military readiness, for the families of our brave men and women in uniform, for our national security, and for our standing in the world that America needs a New Direction in Iraq - not the continuation of the President's plan for at least a 10-year,
SOURCE Office of the Speaker of the House
