Strong Iraq War Remarks of John Edwards at California Democratic Party Convention

The Congress, the Democratically led Congress--and by the way elections have consequences, don’t they? Our victory in 2006 means something. And our leaders in the Congress have submitted a bill to the President under their funding authority that establishes a time table for a withdrawal from Iraq. The President of the United States has said he intends to veto that bill.

Here's the truth, if the President of the United States vetoes that bill, it is George Bush that is not supporting the troops, not the Congress. And we need the Congress to stand firm and strong. If the President vetoes this bill, they should send him back another bill with a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. If he vetoes that, they should send him another one back with a timetable for withdrawal. They should not back down from this President and let him continue from this. We have to show strength and courage. This is about life and death, this is about war, and we have to be strong. But as we're leaving Iraq its also critical that we recognize that we have to change what is happening in the world.

The world has to see us as a force for good again. Right now, they think we're a bully, they think we're selfish, They don't look up to us and respect the United States of America--they're not interested in following America. That has to change.

Here's what I think needs to happen. The next President of the United States has to travel the world and speak to the world.--as great American Presidents have in the past. And the message needs to be, and I'. not the first to say it, America is not just a place, America is an idea. And that idea is equality and diversity. It is who we are as a nation. The world needs to hear that …

The world believes we are at war with the Muslim world. That has to change.

Closing Words of Speech

If you don't remember anything else I said to you today, there's one last thing I want to say to you. The fact that you are here and that you are this involved and this engaged, demonstrates your commitment to the country. But I think every one of us have to ask ourselves, what are you willing to do? How much are you willing to do? How much do you love America?

If you look at the big changes that have happened in this country--the civil rights movement that began on college campuses in America, speaking out against the war in Vietnam, bringing down this apartheid regime in South Africa.

This movement to end the war in Iraq, the great movements that have happened in America, they didn't start in Washington, D.C., they didn't start in the Oval Office, they started right here with people of conviction, and courage, and passion, who would stand up for what you believe in, and what you knew is right, we need you again. We need all of you-- to speak out, to speak up, and to build the kind of America, moral and just that all of us believe in.