I've been completely open about what I believe we need to do to end the war in Iraq.

I've repeatedly called for a complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. There's no confusion or ambiguity or waffling in my position: just bring ALL of the troops home. No excuses. No delays. No troops left behind.

At last week's debate in Iowa I asked the other Democrats on that stage, several of whom return to Congress next week hopefully to begin debating the war again, how many troops would you leave behind?

How have the other major candidates responded to this simple question? Silence. We know they're all on record as being against the war. But we still don't know for sure how many troops they would leave in Iraq and for how long.

I think it is time to get some straight answers. Join me in calling for the Democratic debate to include a direct question of all the candidates: How many troops would you leave behind? How long would you leave them in Iraq?

The inside-the-beltway conventional thinking says a complete withdrawal is "irresponsible." Of course, this is the same thinking that concluded it was responsible to invade Iraq to hunt WMDs in the fist place, that continuing to fund the war is the way to end it, and that the so-called "surge" is a success.

I think it is irresponsible to continue with half-measures and incremental steps when what we need is a clean break. No drawn-out, Vietnam-style withdrawal. No stalling. The responsible path now is to get all of our troops out as quickly as possible. After the damage Bush has wrought, we can't be afraid of big changes based on solid logic and grounded experience.

I've met and successfully negotiated with leaders from the region (including Saddam Hussein himself) -- and my concrete experience tells me only a complete withdrawal will break the deadlock and allow us to move forward, toward real change. As long as our troops are there, the Iraqis will delay reconciliation. It is time to get our troops out of harm's way in a civil war, and it is time to get our lingering presence in Iraq out of the way of the diplomatic process.

And I believe we must withdraw our troops as quickly as possible. After the first Gulf War, we redeployed nearly a half a million troops in a few months. In this war, our military leaders have successfully rotated as many as 240,000 troops in and out of Iraq in as few as three months. I believe we can remove approximately 162,000 troops now quickly and safely. Now, it is just a matter of having a real debate, and then having the political will to call for real solutions.

If we elect a President who thinks that troops should stay in Iraq for years, they will stay there for years. Now is the time to get the answers we need. It is time to demand more than sound bites, uncertainty, and non-answers to important questions. It is time to demand real answers based on real experience and a commitment to real, and realistic, change.

You know where I stand -- and what I would do as President.

Senator Clinton? Senator Obama? Senator Edwards? How about you?

Will you bring all the troops home? If not, how many would you leave behind? For how long?

Let's get the question of residual troops on the table at the Democratic candidates' debate next Sunday, September 9th at the University of Miami. Let's get the answers the voters and the public deserve.

Sign my petition to Univision, the debate sponsors, asking them to clearly ask the question, and to demand clear answers.

This is not a theoretical question -- it's a concrete one, and it deserves a concrete answer. Our men and women in uniform are not an abstraction. They are our family, our friends, our neighbors. It is time for answers we can count on.

Sincerely,

Governor Bill Richardson