From House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco:

“Today marks the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.

“We honor our fallen men and women, their comrades who have returned home, and those who continue to serve in Iraq, Afghanistan and in other parts of the world. They have performed their duties excellently, with bravery, with dignity and with honor. We also thank their families, whose quiet sacrifice for our nation can never be fully repaid.

“With the war in Iraq entering its sixth year, Americans are rightly concerned about how much longer our nation must continue to sacrifice our security for the sake of an Iraqi government that is unwilling or unable to secure its own future.

“The human cost of the war has been enormous, with nearly 4,000 lives lost and tens of thousands injured, many of them permanently. The cost to our national security has been immense — our military is stretched thin and our reputation in the world is damaged. And now, the war in Iraq has become a threat to our economy, with its colossal cost to taxpayers taking us more deeply into debt.

“It is for our military readiness, for the families of our brave men and women in uniform, for our national security, and for our standing in the world that America needs a New Direction in Iraq – not the continuation of the President’s plan for at least a 10-year, $3 trillion dollar war in Iraq. Democrats will continue to push for an end to the war in Iraq and increased oversight of that war.”

From House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio:

“In the five years that have passed since the start of this conflict, our men and women in uniform have heroically ousted a terrorist dictator, freed a nation, and planted the seeds for political reconciliation that will pave the way for the first democracy in a part of the world that needs it most. Today, after countless obstacles to our success over the past five years, Iraq’s fledgling democracy is at long last taking important steps toward the ultimate goal of self-rule. Elections have been held, police and military forces have been trained, legislatures have been assembled, and infrastructure has been built. And most importantly, American troops are beginning to return home after victory, not defeat.

“While our nation rightfully thanks each and every serviceman and woman who returns home from Iraq, it will be our children and grandchildren – and their children and grandchildren – who truly will owe them a debt of gratitude. Their selflessness and courage in the face of a ruthless and soul-less enemy not only has brought increasing security and stability to a breeding ground for terrorists seeking to destroy us, but it has laid the groundwork for a safer and more peaceful world for generations to come. While more work is left ahead of us, the progress made under General Petraeus’ plan gives our troops and their Iraqi security forces counterparts the momentum they need to overcome not only the terrorist enemy they face in Iraq – but also the naysayers at home who claimed victory was never possible.”

From Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo:

“The war has taken the life of nearly 4,000 American soldiers with tens of thousands being permanently injured. Our national security is being compromised by a military stretched to its breaking point and an administration that still lacks a strategy in Iraq and the war on terror, while our reputation as a responsible global power is on a steep decline.

“Right now the war is threatening our economy here at home. With rising oil prices, record home foreclosures and a generally weak economy we are continuing to hemorrhage money in Iraq at tax payer expense while driving the nation deeper into debt. It’s time to start re-investing in America and using our national resources to prevent an economic crisis here at home.

“We must honor the brave men and women who have lost their lives, the ones who have come home safely, and the ones who continue to fight by adopting new policies and a new direction in Iraq that will stop the violence, improve our military readiness, protect our economy and restore our standing in the world.”

From Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma:

“Five years ago today, President Bush took to the oval office to tell the world that the invasion of Iraq was underway. Five years later our country finds itself in an unwinnable quagmire, a failure so great that it will forever overshadow the lengthy list of President Bush’s other disappointments and missed opportunities during his eight years in office.

“The invasion of Iraq has cost us the lives of nearly 4,000 of our nation’s bravest and brightest men and women. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, have been taken from their families and loved ones, which represent the greatest and most horrific sacrifice that any nation could be every be forced to bear.

“But theirs has not been the only sacrifice. So far, over 40,000 Americans have returned from Iraq with the irreparable physical and mental wounds of war – scars that will last for their rest of their lives, and will affect them in ways that we can’t even imagine. And hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been caught in the cross fire of a violent civil war that has further propelled Iraq into darkness and hopelessness.

“And then there is the financial cost of this President’s mistake, which Nobel Laureate Economist Joseph Stiglitz recently projected will cost our nation at least $3 trillion over the next decade. What is most damning about this figure, however, is the lost opportunity costs that it represents. At a time when some children are forced to learn in crumbling schools, when too many seniors are forced to chose between putting food on their table and buying the prescription drugs that they need to survive, when homeowners wonder how they will keep pace with their rising mortgage payments, and most jarring of all, when our veterans, the very people that this President sent to war in the first place, are forced to wait for months to see a doctor, we are spending over $11 billion a month on an unwinnable occupation.

“That’s why so many of us continue to voice our opposition, day in, and day out. We’re fighting on behalf of every family who will lose a loved one while fighting in Iraq, every family who will struggle even though they live in the richest country in the world, and on behalf of the people of Iraq who want to control their own destiny.

“At this hour, at any hour, our nation is better than this. It’s far past time that we help restore America’s reputation in the world, refocus our energy on rebuilding our own country, and return Iraq to the Iraqi people. Our troops have done everything that has been asked of them, it’s time to bring them home.”

UPDATE @ 11:18 A.M. THURSDAY 3/27: Staffers for Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, keep reminding me her comments didn’t make it into the initial post, so…

“Five years ago the Bush administration mislead the American people into believing there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; mislead many to believe Iraq posed an imminent threat, and; mislead the nation about a false connection between the tragic events of 911 and Saddam Hussein. As we enter the sixth year of the U.S. occupation in Iraq, the most important thing Congress can do is to end this disastrous occupation and finally bring our troops and contractors home. The consequences of the continued are too great – We have already lost nearly 4,000 brave U.S. servicemen and women and more than 28,000 others have been wounded.”