Remarks Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)

 On Feingold-Reid-Leahy Amendment on Iraq

December 18, 2007

 

Mr. LEAHY.  Mr. President, I support the Feingold-Reid-Leahy Amendment because it specifically requires the President to begin the redeployment of American forces in Iraq within 90 days.  Within nine months of enactment, the redeployment would be completed and funding terminated for Iraq operations with narrow exceptions for a limited number of counterterrorism, force protection, and troop training missions.

 

The President’s so-called “surge” is just another word for escalation.  It has failed to set the lasting conditions for peace.  Violence, though down, still continues at horrifying rates.  The various Iraqi factions have made little progress towards political reconciliation.  The deadly rifts in that war-torn country have only grown deeper.  The Iraqi government has done little to support the few encouraging trends like the willingness of some Sunni groups to turn against the insurgency.

 

The only thing that is going to force the Iraqis to come to terms – the only way to get Iraq’s neighbors involved in bringing about peace there – is to make clear that our country is not going to be there forever.  We cannot afford to spend more of our precious resources and to spill more of the precious blood of our troops if the Iraqis will not take responsibility for their own future.

 

There is a way to begin to right the wrongs of the President’s failed policy on Iraq.  That better path involves effective diplomacy and a strong signal about our finite military presence in Iraq, not this senseless waste of money and lives.  The Feingold-Reid-Leahy Amendment offers the real promise of a long-term positive outcome for our security and the people of Iraq.  I urge the amendment’s adoption.  

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