Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

This war is already taking longer than originally planned. We were led to believe that it was going to be over very quickly, but the timescale has now changed completely and both the British and American media are saying it could continue for an awfully long time. There is much more involved than appeared to be the case initially. It is frightening to think that 120,000 extra troops are on the way to Iraq as we speak. I agree with Senator Minihan that, as the war is now on, we must deal with the facts. It would defeat logic for the US and British forces to pull out of Iraq at this stage.