"I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there in fact I think it will do the reverse. I think it takes pressuire off the Iraqis to arrive at the sort of political accommodation that every observer believes is the ultimate solution to the problems we face there. So I am going to actively oppose the president's proposal I think he is wrong.
"Here's what we know. The surge has not worked. And they said today, Well, even in September, we're going to need more time. So we're going to kick this can all the way down to the next president, under the president's plan."
"So, I think it is fair to say that the president has simply tried to gain another six months to continue on the same course that he's been on for several years now. It is a course that will not succeed. It is a course that is exacting an enormous toll on the American people, enormous toll on our troops who have performed brilliantly and done everything that's been asked of them and is not making us more safe."
"Now, I had no doubt and I said at the time, when I opposed the surge, that given how wonderfully our troops perform, if we place 30,000 more troops in there, then we would see an improvement in the security situation and we would see a reduction in the violence.
"The surge of U.S. troops has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams."
"McCain wants to ignore the first five years of the war and just talk about the last one. And that's fair, because the truth is that the violence has gone down beyond our expectations."