Congressional reaction to president’s new Iraq plan.

Here's a sampling from Minnesota's delegation.

First GOP Sen. Norm Coleman:

I applaud the President for admitting mistakes and recognizing a need to change strategy in Iraq. However, I disagree with the President’s decision to provide a troop surge in Baghdad. My concern about a troop surge is compounded by the impact it will have on Minnesota National Guard troops in Iraq and their families here at home. I am extremely disappointed by the news that our National Guard soldiers in Iraq will have their tour of duty extended. When I visited them a few weeks ago in Iraq, they were excited about coming home in March. At a time when our National Guard troops and families are making the ultimate commitment to serve our country and defend our freedom, they deserve better than to be told only a short time before their scheduled return that their service is being extended.

Create a More Connected Minnesota

MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar had this to say:

“With this speech, President Bush continues to take his failed Iraq policy in the wrong direction. Sending even more American troops is not the change of course that the American people want, or that our military forces deserve, or that Iraq needs to halt its civil war. A number of the president’s fellow Republicans in Congress also believe he’s not taking the right approach.

As of Thanksgiving, this war has lasted longer than World War II. And after nearly four years of intensive military involvement in Iraq, including more than 3,000 American deaths, the president should be focused on reducing our troop presence in Iraq instead of putting even more American servicemen and women in harm’s way.”

First District DFL Rep Tim Walz held a conference call after the speech, and his office released some quotes from it:

The President has been wrong at every turn and tonight he continues down that path. After listening to his speech I must say that he is right about one thing - a failed state is a dangerous thing and that's exactly what we have in Afghanistan, where a large portion of the country has fallen back under Taliban control. No one has been more wrong about Iraq, more consistently than the President. Tonight, yet again, the President has his strategy backwards. We need a diplomatic solution that includes everyone in the region, not a military escalation like he proposed tonight.