WASHINGTON, July 9 (UPI) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the U.S. troop surge in Iraq is not working and the war "is headed in a very dangerous direction."
"The surge was supposed to provide Iraq political leaders the space to make the compromises necessary to unite this nation," Reid said at a Capitol Hill news conference Monday with Sen. James Webb, D-Va. "That hasn't happened, despite the bravery of our troops."
"We believe that it's time to change course," he said.
The Democratic leader said the last three months have been the deadliest of the Iraq War, which began in March 2003, and said Congress cannot wait until September to change course in Iraq. He called on Senate Republicans to join efforts to responsibly change U.S. strategy in Iraq.
Webb said he plans to introduce a "readiness" amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill that would require active-duty military and National Guard troops to have the same amount of time at home as the length of their deployments overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan or to NATO assignments.
"We're now in the fifth year of ground combat operations in Iraq and this deck of cards is coming crashing down," he said.
