Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
On Continuing Efforts to Pass the Feingold-Reid Legislation and
End the War in Iraq
As delivered from the Senate Floor
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December 18, 2007
Mr. President, I rise to offer an amendment with Majority Leader Reid
and Senators Leahy, Dodd, Boxer, Kennedy, Kerry, Harkin, Whitehouse,
Wyden, Durbin, Schumer, Obama, Menendez, Lautenberg, Brown and Sanders
to H.R. 2764, the fiscal year 2008 omnibus appropriations bill.
The amendment is one I have offered before and I will not hesitate,
if I must, to offer again and again and again. I’d add that the
17 cosponsors is the greatest number we’ve ever had for this amendment.
It requires the President to begin safely redeploying U.S. troops from
Iraq within 90 days of enactment, and requires redeployment to be completed
within 9 months. At that point, with our the bulk of our troops safely
out of Iraq, funding for the war would be ended, with four narrow exceptions:
providing security for U.S. government personnel and infrastructure;
training the Iraqi Security Forces; providing training and equipment
to U.S. servicemen and women to ensure their safety and security; and
conducting targeted operations, limited in duration and scope, against
members of al Qaeda and other affiliated international terrorist organizations.
Some of my colleagues complain that we have spent too much time debating
Iraq this year. They’d rather be talking about issues. Well, we
have a lot of important priorities here, but nothing is more important
to me or my constituents than ending this disastrous war. As I do every
year, I held a townhall meeting in every county in Wisconsin this year.
That’s 72 meetings, for those of you who aren’t from the
Badger state. I heard a lot from my constituents at these meetings about
health care and education. But the number one issue I heard about was
foreign affairs, particularly the war in Iraq. Let me tell you, they
weren’t asking why Congress is spending so much time on this issue.
They weren’t asking us to give the President more time for his
so-called surge. Like Americans all across the country, they want an
end to this war and they want to know what’s stopping us.
The Senate needs to address the concerns and demands of our constituents,
who more than a year ago voted for a change in congressional leadership
in large measure because of the debacle in Iraq. But we have yet to
follow through and end this misguided war, before more Americans are
injured and killed. And we are about to adjourn for the year and let
the war drag on even longer.
We hear a lot from supporters of the President that violence in Iraq
is down right now, and therefore we are on the path to victory. That
argument would be a lot more convincing if the administration had a
viable strategy for success. The surge may buy time, but as long as
there is no political solution to Iraq’s problems, we are just
postponing the inevitable resurgence in violence and our brave troops
will continue bearing the brunt of it.
That’s not a strategy for success. It’s not even a strategy
– it’s a way of pushing this problem off to the next president,
and the next Congress, while our troops put their lives on the line
and our constituents foot the bill. Or, I should say, our constituents’
children and grandchildren foot the bill, because we can’t even
be bothered to figure out a way to pay for the war. We’re just
handing the tab to future generations, sticking them with hundreds of
billions of dollars of more deficit spending.
Mr. President, I am certainly pleased that violence in Iraq has declined
in the last few months. Once again, our troops have showed they excel
in any challenge with which they are tasked. This doesn’t change
the fact, however that this year was the bloodiest year for Americans
since the war began and there are still a few weeks to go in 2007.
Indeed, let us remember that nearly 4,000 Americans have died and almost
30,000 have been wounded in a war that has no clear strategy and no
end in sight. While the President is bringing home a token number of
troops, over 160,000 remain as the war drags on into its fifth year.
What are we supposed to tell them, and their families – to wait
another year until a new administration and new Congress finally listen
to the American people and bring this tragedy to a close?
Mr. President, Iraq appears to be no closer to legitimate political
reconciliation at the national level than it was before the surge began.
Equally worrisome is that, as part of the President’s plan, we
appear to be deepening our dependence upon former insurgents and militia-infiltrated
security forces with questionable loyalties. Supporting the sheiks in
al Anbar and elsewhere may help to reduce violence in the near term,
but by supporting both sides of a civil war, we are risking greater
violence down the road. Such tactics are likely to undermine the prospects
for long-term stability as they could lead to greater political fragmentation
and ultimately jeopardize Iraq’s territorial integrity. Again,
Mr. President, without legitimate national reconciliation, violence
may ebb and flow, but it won’t end and we’ll be no closer
to a settlement no matter how long we keep a significant military presence
in Iraq. That’s not the fault of our heroic men and women in uniform
– it’s the fault of the administration’s disastrous
policies.
There’s another dirty secret behind the temporary drop in violence,
and it relates to the segregation of Baghdad, and the neighborhoods
on its outskirts. With so many Iraqis fleeing their homes in search
of greater safety and security, large scale displacement has resulted
in very different demographics. Previously mixed neighborhoods have
ceased to exist, thereby curtailing one of the chief sources of sectarian
violence. This ethnic cleansing is hardly evidence of a successful surge.
And it sure isn’t a hopeful sign for future peace and stability
in Iraq.
When it announced the surge, the administration said its goal was to
keep a lid on violence to give time and space for reconciliation in
Iraq. Now that we are no closer to reconciliation, the administration
is trying, once again, to move the goal posts. We don’t hear as
much about reconciliation now, and when we do, it sounds very different
from the national reconciliation that was supposedly our goal –
instead we hear about “bottom-up” reconciliation, whatever
that means. All the administration can do is stall for time, just as
it did in 2004, just as it did in 2005, just as it did in 2006. The
slogan may be different – “Mission Accomplished,”
“Stay the Course,” “The New Way Forward” and
even “Return on Success” – but each time we are told
we are on the right road, if we just keep walking a little longer. Until,
that is, we reach another dead end, and a new slogan is invented to
justify heading in a new, but equally futile, direction.
As the Administration blunders from one mistake to another, brave American
troops are being injured and killed in Iraq, our military is being over-stretched,
countless billions of dollars are being spent, the American people are
growing more and more frustrated and outraged, and our national security
is being undermined. Instead of focusing on Iraq, we should be focusing
on our top national security priority, and that of course is going after
al Qaeda and its affiliates around the globe. This administration has
sadly proven that we cannot do both.
Al Qaeda is waging a global campaign, from North Africa -- where the
Algerian government has blamed an al Qaeda affiliate for two major bombings
last week -- to the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan where,
while we have been distracted by Iraq, Al Qaeda has reconstituted and
strengthened itself. There is a price to pay for our neglect, Mr. President,
and this administration has failed to acknowledge it.
Because of its narrow focus on Iraq, the administration has been so
distracted it has not adequately addressed the deteriorating security
conditions in Afghanistan, where the resurgent Taliban – the same
movement that harbored and supported the terrorist elements that attacked
our country on 9/11 – are gaining ground. Violence may be down
in Iraq, Mr. President, but it is up significantly in Afghanistan. There
were 77 suicide attacks in Afghanistan in just the first six months
of 2007, which is about twice the number for the same period in 2006
and 26 times higher than from January to June 2005.
Now this worrisome escalation of suicide bombings is one of many signs
that Afghanistan’s already tenuous stability is even shakier.
And while earlier this week, the Pentagon confirmed that the US military
and its NATO partners are reviewing plans for Afghanistan, it’s
awfully late in the game to try to put that country on a solid path
to stabilization and development. Nonetheless, we have to try because
we still have an opportunity to really finish the job we started six
years ago in Afghanistan – eliminating the Taliban and destroying
a safe haven for terrorist networks that seek to harm us. And this opportunity
is critical because until Bin Laden and his reconstituted al Qaeda leadership
are killed or captured, Afghanistan’s future can not be separated
from our own national security.
So Mr. President, instead of seeing the big picture – instead
of approaching Iraq in the context of a comprehensive and global campaign
against a ruthless enemy – this administration persists with its
tragic policy and its tragic mistakes. As the President digs in his
heels, he is simultaneously deepening instability throughout the Middle
East, undermining the international support and cooperation we need
to defeat al Qaeda, providing al Qaeda and its allies with a rallying
cry and recruiting tool, and increasing our own vulnerability.
The President’s promise to redeploy a few battalions, while leaving
160,000 troops in Iraq, is not nearly enough. That is why, once again,
I am offering this amendment with Majority Leader Reid. It is up to
us here in Congress to reverse what continues to be an intractable policy.
It is our job to listen to the American people, to save American lives,
and to protect our nation's security by redeploying our troops from
Iraq because the President will not do it.
I am not suggesting that we abandon the people of Iraq, or that we
ignore the political impasse there. We can not ignore the ongoing humanitarian
crisis that has unfolded within Iraq or the one that followed millions
of Iraqis as they fled to Jordan and Syria. These issues do require
the attention and constructive engagement of U.S. policymakers, key
regional players, and the international community. They require high-level,
consistent, and multi-lateral engagement and cooperation. But Iraqi
reconciliation can not – and will not – be brought about
by a massive American military engagement.
By enacting Feingold-Reid, we can finally bring our troops out of Iraq
and focus on what should be our top national security priority –
waging a global campaign against al Qaeda and its affiliates.
Now some of my colleagues will oppose this amendment. That is their
right. But I hope none of them will suggest that Feingold-Reid would
hurt the troops by denying them equipment or support. Because there
is no truth to that argument – none. Passing this legislation
would result in our troops being safely redeployed within 9 months.
At that point, Mr President, at that point with the troops safely out
of Iraq, funding for the war would end, with the narrow exceptions I
mentioned earlier. That is what Congress did in 1993 when it voted overwhelmingly
to bring our military mission in Somalia to an end. And that is what
Congress must do again to terminate the President’s unending mission
in Iraq.
This amendment is almost identical to the version I offered with Senator
Reid and others to the Defense Department authorization bill. And once
again, we have specified that nothing in this amendment will prevent
U.S. troops from receiving the training or equipment they need “to
ensure, maintain, or improve their safety and security.” So I
hope we won’t be hearing any more spurious arguments about troops
on the battlefield not getting the supplies they need.
Mr. President, this war is exhausting our country, over-stretching
our military, and tarnishing our credibility. Even with the recent decline
in violence, the American people know the war is wrong and they continue
to call for its end. So I urge my colleagues to vote yes on Feingold-Reid
so we can finally heed their call to action.
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