2 economy, taking future costs into account, could well exceed $2 tril- lion. Senator Graham, when General Petraeus testified recently before the Senate Armed Services Committee, you asked him an excellent question. This is how you put it. I will quote you: "So you are saying to Congress that you know that at least 60 soldiers, airmen, and marines are likely to be killed every month from now until July, that we are going to spend $9 bil- lion a month of American taxpayer dollars, and when all is said and done we will still have about 100,000 people there. Do you believe that it is worth it in terms of our national security interests to pay that price?" Now that, Senator Graham, is the question, and I commend you for asking it. As we know, General Petraeus believes that the an- swer to that question is "yes," and so does the President. But a large and growing majority of Americans, myself very much in- cluded, do not agree. We answer that question loud and clear, and our answer is "no." The people of this country do not want to stay the course in Iraq. Instead, we want to change the course and to move in a new direction. Back in January, the President announced that in order to buy time for the factions in Iraq to come together and to reach a polit- ical settlement, he was sending over tens of thousands of additional United States combat troops. Those troops have done what they were asked to do. They did buy time for Prime Minister Maliki and his associates. And what did the regime in Baghdad do with that time? Hardly anything. There was no real progress. Instead of act- ing as the architect of a new Iraq, Mr. Maliki behaved like what he has always been: The front man for the Shiite faction. Does any- one really think in 6 or 8 months from now this is really going to change? Not long ago, Senator Graham, you gave to us a very good defini- tion of what would constitute an American victory in Iraq, and I quote you: "Winning is a stable, functioning, representative government that can contain Iran, will reject Iranian domination." With that definition I certainly will not argue. I would be very pleased indeed to witness the emergence of that kind of an Iraq. But how long will it take? And at what cost to our country and to the people of Iraq to get from here to there? General Petraeus is quoted as saying that he anticipates that by June 2009, Iraq will reach what he calls sustainable security. Other military experts think that it will take quite a bit longer. Up to 5 years, says General John Abizaid, the former commander in Iraq. And how about a quote, "stable, functioning, representative government"? When asked when something like this might appear, Ambassador Crocker said last week that he would not even try to give a time line. And I note, Senator Graham, that in David Broder's column in this past Sunday's Washington Post you are quoted as observing, and I am quoting you: 3 "If you don't see progress on two of the three big issues, oil rev- enues, de-Baathification, provincial elections in the next 90 days, Iraq could be a failed state." From day one, the Bush administration has made mistake after mistake after costly, deadly mistake in Iraq. And all that we are being offered now is more of the same. The time has come for a dramatic change of course in Iraq. United States policy in Iraq needs to move in a new direction, and we need to do so now. I now turn to my good friend and distinguished colleague, the ranking Republican on the committee, Ms. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, for any comments she might wish to make. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much as always, Mr. Chair- man. Mr. Chairman, as all of us know, this past week, as you pointed out, our committee received testimony on the current situation in Iraq and the United States strategy in that country from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Prior to their testi- mony, the Congress received the Jones report, stating that the Iraqi Security Forces are carrying out part of that burden, and that their ability to do so will increase in the coming month. Other find- ings of the Jones report include: "While severely deficient in combat support and combat service support capabilities, the new Iraqi armed forces, especially the Army, show clear evidence of developing the baseline infra- structures that lead to the successful formation of a national defense capability." In continuing to quote from the Jones report: "The Iraqi police are improving at the local level, predomi- nantly where the ethnic makeup of the population is relatively homogenous, and the police are recruited from the local area. Police forces are hampered by corruption and dysfunction with- in the Ministry of Interior." Likewise, an examination of the September 15th benchmark as- sessment report requires careful analysis of the different ways in which groups of citizens, local and provincial governments have been able to address the requirements of the benchmark legisla- tion. This most recent report was based on data available as of Sep- tember 1st, and reflects that the Iraqis have taken actions on nine benchmarks. The September 15th report also assessed seven bench- marks as not satisfactory, including the enactment and implemen- tation legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydro- carbon revenue, increasing the number of Iraqi Security Force units capable of operating independently, ensuring that Iraq's polit- ical authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the Iraqi Security Forces, eliminating militia control of local security, eliminating sectarian bias within the Iraqi police, eliminating political intervention by leaders throughout the chain of command, and establishing provincial council authorities and establishing a date for provincial elections. Four of these were assessed as showing forward momentum, however.