A day before the protests, Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Congress not to pass any resolution opposing the escalation of the war. He said such a resolution “emboldens the enemy and our adversaries.” On Sunday, Democratic Senator Joseph Biden responded to Robert Gates.

Sen. Joseph Biden: “It’s not the American people or the United States Congress who are emboldening the enemy. It’s the failed policy of this president, going to war without a strategy, going to war prematurely, going to war without enough troops, going to war without enough equipment, and lastly, now sending 17,500 people in the middle of a city of 6.5 million people with bull’s-eyes on their back with no plan.”