Biden Asks Congress to Go on Record: No Permanent Bases in Iraq

Biden Asks Congress to Go on Record: No Permanent Bases in Iraq

Today, U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced an amendment to the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill that would put the Senate on record as opposing permanent military bases in Iraq and U.S. control of the country's natural resources.

According to Biden, although American military and political leadership in Baghdad have said that the United States does not have plans for permanent bases, "the Iraqi people remain suspicious of our intentions and are growing increasingly impatient."

"I have no delusions that a single amendment will somehow change the dynamic of events on the ground," he said. "But I do believe that we have a duty to proclaim - and proclaim regularly -- that we have no intention of either maintaining permanent American military bases in Iraq or controlling its oil."

According to a recent University of Maryland poll, 80% of Iraqis (and 92% of Sunni Arabs in Iraq) believe that the U.S. intends to have a permanent military presence in their country, thereby contributing to the violence against American military personnel.

http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=254830&&