Menendez assails Bush on Iraq

WASHINGTON, March 22 (UPI) -- Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Saturday rebuked President George Bush, saying he's failed to be honest with Americans since taking the country to war in Iraq.

Delivering the Democrats' weekly radio address the week the war reached its fifth anniversary, Menendez charged the Republican president "took us to war on the wings of a lie."

"With each passing year, we've heard the same false promises of victory, the same excuses for failures from the Iraqi government and the same refusal from President Bush to admit his mistakes," Menendez said in transcript provided by the Democratic National Committee.

"Now, as this war enters its sixth year, the American people are still waiting to hear the straight talk we deserve."

While noting the mounting death and injury toll among U.S. troops, who he called "the best America has to offer and who have "answered every call and met every goal with a valor that will never be forgotten," Menendez said Bush "should tell us the truth -- that after thousands of lives lost and perhaps trillions of American taxpayer dollars, Iraq remains crippled by violence and corruption, still light years from building a stable government or a lasting peace."

He said the troops should be brought home and U.S. resources redirected to help the ailing economy.