Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
On The Feingold Amendment To Redeploy Troops From Iraq
September 20, 2007

Mr. LEAHY.  Mr. President, I strongly support the Feingold Amendment, of which I am a cosponsor.  This is the strongest amendment for changing course in Iraq among the proposals that we will consider this week.  It is the only proposal that addresses the President’s failed Iraq policy head on, and that would begin the much needed redeployment of our forces within 90 days. 

The invasion of Iraq, and the catastrophe it has caused for the Iraqi people, for Iraq’s neighbors, and for the United States, must end.  It has been a failure – a failure in terms of our strategic interests, a failure in making us safer, a failure in terms of the President’s naïve goal of imposing a new Iraqi government by force. 

Our troops have stepped up time and time again, many of them sacrificing their lives, and many more suffering severe injuries.  Their performance has been superb.  Despite what the President and some who defend his policies say, our troops are not the issue.  The issues are the glaring shortfalls, and the appalling incompetence, of the President’s strategy. 

The “surge” has not brought the Iraqi factions any closer to political reconciliation, which after all is the ultimate goal of the surge strategy.  In fact, the divisions among the Iraqi people – already deep because of the brutal manipulations of the Saddam Hussein regime -- seem to be worsening.  The White House seems to have no idea how to call things off and get our troops out from the middle of Iraq’s civil war. 

The cold hard truth is that the President has presented the American people with no real option, just more of the same.  If the President is going to ignore our true national interests by prolonging this conflict, if the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces is not going to take responsibility, then Congress, as representatives of the people, must be the catalyst to chart a new course. 

The Iraqi Government is only getting more dependent on a continued American presence.  It is the consensus view of our intelligence community, as reflected in the latest National Intelligence Assessment, that there is no prospect that in the next year the Iraqis will come together and reach a political settlement. 

Even the new White House report, buttressed in part by the non-partisan and professional General Accounting Office, shows that Iraq is getting a failing grade in its ability to meet key military and political metrics on its path toward reconciliation and stability.

The Administration cites the positive developments in Anbar Province as justification for continuing this perpetual deployment of American forces.  There has been progress there, much of it pre-dating the so-called “surge.”  Hundreds of members of the Vermont National Guard know how bad the situation was in Anbar less than a year and a half ago, when these soldiers helped make up Task Force Saber in Ramadi.  They were in the worst place in Iraq at the worst time.  Since then the situation has clearly improved, and our troops and their commanders deserve credit and our thanks for that that tough and dangerous work. 

But the new-found calm is based on a set of agreements between Sunni tribes and American forces, not with the Iraqi Government.  The Iraqi Government sees newly organized and perhaps newly armed groups of Sunnis as a threat to its power, and it is doubtful that will change any time soon. 

In the meantime, the situation elsewhere continues to implode. 

Passage of the Feingold Amendment would force the Iraqis – and neighboring nations with a stake in Iraq’s future – to recognize that the open-ended deployment of U.S. forces is ending.  The draw down of our forces, coupled with a strong U.S.-led diplomatic initiative, might bring about the political reconciliation that no amount of additional military force can bring about. 

It might also cause Iraq’s warring ethnic factions to go their own way, splitting the country into separate states.  But that is where they are currently headed anyway.  The Administration’s policies and incompetence have brought us to the point where there are no good options.  But either of these scenarios is better than the future offered by the President.  His war is costing us horrific casualties and enormous sums that could be better spent repairing our frayed international reputation and strengthening our security at home.

I urge my colleagues to take the only responsible step and pass this amendment that will finally bring our troops home.

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