President Bush promised to deliver a new strategy for the war in Iraq. Unfortunately, despite a clear message sent by the American people at the polls last November, the President instead has given us the same old dish of stay-the-course, and, at worst, an escalation that has been cut-and-pasted from the unsuccessful Vietnam War strategy book.

Escalating the use of U.S. troops in a widening civil war in Iraq would take us further in the wrong direction. It would put even more Americans in danger, it goes against the advice of key military commanders on the ground in Iraq, and it would make it more difficult to begin bringing our troops home.