Senator John Walsh, the only Iraq War combat veteran serving in the U.S. Senate, said Wednesday it was time for Iraq to secure and defend its own nation.Walsh urged President Barack Obama and Congress to remember the "costs of war." Walsh recounted his own mission north of Tikrit, the same region where conflict is unfolding now.

"I stand here today as a veteran and the father of a veteran, and we fought in a war that Washington began based on false information—A war that ended and from which we must move on," Walsh said. "I've seen war firsthand, and like too many Americans' families, I've seen the costs of war up close. It is now time for the Iraqis to secure and defend their own nation."

Speaking from the Senate Floor, Walsh urged both Obama and Congress to use extreme restraint before committing to action in Iraq.

"Because I know that foreign policy failures made in Washington fall disproportionally on the backs of young men and women from small towns across Montana and across America," he said.

As Walsh spoke on the ongoing conflict, he also noted that the regional unrest was more evidence of the need to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil and increase domestic energy production.

Early Wednesday morning, Iraq’s biggest oil refinery in Bajii, located north of Baghdad, was under attack by Islamic extremists.

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