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Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) addressed students and the public at George Washington University. It's a long road to peace, Clinton said, but it's a necessary road to travel, and we travel with others around the world.

It's been five years, Clinton said, and our people in uniform have done all that we asked of them, and more. For every American soldier that has made the ultimate sacrifice for this mission, she said, we should imagine, carved in stone, "they gave their life for the greatest gift one can give to a fellow human being, the gift of freedom."

The mistakes in Iraq are from our Commander-in-Chief, Clinton said. Ten months from now, she said, we will have a new president and a new opportunity in Iraq. It won't be easy, she said, and there isn't a magic wand to wave. It will take a president that is ready to be Commander-in-Chief on day one. It requires knowledge, confidence, and readiness, she said, and if you give me the chance, I will be that president, and I will face the obstacles in Iraq as they are, not as we wish them to be.

Today, she said, the Iraqi government has failed to provide basic services for their citizens, they have yet to pass legislation ensuring the equitable distribution of oil revenues, or even pass a law setting the date of provincial elections. By the middle of the summer when the additional surge forces have been sent home, we'll be right back at square one, Clinton said. As we continue to police Iraq's civil war, the threats to our national security, our economy, and our standing in the world, continue to mount.

Despite the evidence, Clinton said, President Bush is determined to continue his failed policy in Iraq until he leaves office, and Senator McCain will gladly "accept the torch" and continue to stay that course and keep us in Iraq for up to 100 years if necessary. They both want to keep us tied to another country's civil war- a war we cannot win. In a nutshell, she said, that is the Bush-McCain Iraq Policy: "Don't learn from your mistakes, repeat them." There is no military solution to the situation in Iraq, Clinton said.

The most important part of her plan, she said, is the first step: to bring our troops home and send the strongest possible message to the Iraqis, that they must take responsibility for their own future. No more talk of permanent occupation, no more policing a civil war, no more doing for the Iraqis what they must be doing for themselves. As we bring our troops home, she said, I will ensure we are fully prepared to take care of them and their families. I believe that when men and women sign up to serve our country, Clinton said, we sign up to serve them too.

Under her plan, she will continue to fight terrorism within Iraq, and also will work to secure stability within Iraq as the troops are successfully withdrawn and brought home. Right now, she said, no one doubts that the Iraqi government is failing its citizens. These failings are in part the fault of the Iraqis, and in part due to the Bush Administration's efforts to match political efforts with military ones.

We must convince all countries in the region and beyond, she said, to refrain from getting involved in the Iraqi civil war, to hold themselves and others to their past pledges to provide funding in Iraq, and to support the central role to the United Nations. My plan, Clinton said, are critical first steps, ones that draw on the strength of our alliances, and the power of our diplomacy, and uses the greatest military force on earth as a last, not a first, resort. Achieving all of this will not be easy, she said, but we don't have any choice.