Later tonight President Bush will address the nation on the subject of Iraq. It will be the eighth time he's done so since the Iraq war started in 2003.

Senator Dodd issued the following statement on Bush's anticipated announcement that the 30,000+ troops deployed to Iraq during the “surge” will be brought home early next summer (as has always been the plan).

“Moving us in 10 months to where we were 10 months ago is not progress. It is the very definition of status quo.

“Not only is the President not offering us anything new; he's insulting our intelligence.

“Despite the fact that his top General is unable to say that the war is making us safer, all the President offers today is quite literally more of the same. More loss of life, more strain on our military readiness, and more degradation of our national security and our standing in the world. It is time for Congress to say 'no more.'

“What was clear to me before, and what should be abundantly clear to my colleagues after today, is that this President is not going to change course unless we force him to. There is only one way to do that – we must set a clear, hard and fast deadline for redeployment and, in order to enforce it, that deadline must be tied to funding.”

Last week BarbinMD asked this on DailyKos:

Troops reductions in April will have nothing to do with improved conditions in Iraq, it will be simply because they won't have the troops to sustain the current levels.  But the administration will push this, and apparently the media will play along.  Will Congress?

I think Senator Dodd's statement above shows that he, for one, will not play along. Dodd is continuing to push to end the war. He is leading the charge to set a firm, enforceable deadline for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq of April 30, 2008 and he's tying it to funding. He won't vote for compromise legislation that fails to set a date certain for ending the war. And he's challenged his colleagues in the Senate, including Senators Obama and Clinton, to state clearly and directly whether they will vote for legislation that lacks a firm deadline tied to funding. Sadly, they have yet to respond to Dodd's simple request for them to stand up and lead with him.

Please take a moment to write to your Senators using this tool and ask them to state clearly and directly: will they vote for legislation that fails to set a date certain tied to funding to end the Iraq war? Ask them to support the Dodd Amendment, which will end the war by setting a firm deadline and enforcing it by cutting off funds after the point.

www.chrisdodd.com/StopTheBill

Update:

ThinkProgress has the video of General Petraeus saying that the surge forces were scheduled to come home between April and mid-July, 2008.