National Defense Authorizaton Act for Fiscal Year 2006
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006
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Mr. DODD. Mr. President, in these 10 minutes I will address the issue of an amendment offered by my colleague from Michigan, and several others including this Senator, which we have worked on over the last week or so. This amendment will be voted on tomorrow, and we have tried here to come up with some ideas that could build bipartisan support for how we go from where we are today in Iraq to a successful conclusion of that conflict.
I think all of us recognize that we have ourselves in a mess in Iraq, no matter how one wants to characterize it. I was disappointed that the President used Veterans Day last week as an opportunity to attack those who have agreed with him at certain points and disagreed with him at others. It seems to me that what we need from the administration is far more clarity, a greater sense of vision, some concrete ideas on how we intend to conclude our involvement in Iraq, and a strategy for increasing the likelihood that the Iraqi people can build a stable government.
As we know, from the very beginning, the rationale for going to war in Iraq was filled with misrepresentations, deceits, and the falsification of many facts. There was no Iraqi purchase of uranium from Niger. There were no aluminum tubes being used to construct nuclear centrifuges. There were no stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons. We now know that allegations linking Iraqi officials to al-Qaida were untrue. To make matters worse, in my view, the administration's penchant for discarding international norms with respect to our missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, has unraveled decades of American diplomacy dedicated to enshrining the rule of law.
The course set by this administration has cost America its treasure, but it has also cost the lives of more than 2,000 of our service men and women. More than 14,000 others have sustained serious injuries. We are now spending somewhere around $4-$6 billion every month for U.S. military operations alone in that country.
There have been intangible costs as well most--significantly, the cost to America's favorable public image at home and abroad--a cost that has seriously impaired our ability to shape global responses to global challenges.
These challenges include North Korea's nuclear weapons, Iran's ambitions to develop its own weapons capability, genocide in Sudan's Darfur region, political instability in Lebanon and Syria, and a festering Arab-Israeli conflict. Anti-American nationalism is spreading throughout our own hemisphere as we saw in recent days during the summit meetings of the Americas; and the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the possibility of an avian flu epidemic all are being held hostage because of the missteps we have taken in Iraq.
These missteps have tarnished America's image, and have allowed the disaffected in Iraq and elsewhere to capitalize on these misfortunes and to distort our values and intentions, in order to inspire violence for their own purposes. We saw it in recent protests in Argentina. We are seeing it to a certain extent in the ongoing youth violence in France. We saw it several days ago in the tragic bombings in Amman, Jordan. We see it every day in Iraq as American and Iraqi soldiers and civilians are randomly attacked by angry, nameless, and faceless individuals. It is not enough to simply decry past mistakes or America's tarnished reputation. We have to do something to correct these mistakes and restore America's prestige.
In short, what we need is a plan for success in Iraq, and what better place to start than in that war-torn nation. Last month, while visiting Baghdad with my colleague from Rhode Island, Senator Reed, I had the opportunity to meet with U.S. commanders on the ground and to visit with our men and women in uniform who in some cases are on their second or third tours of duty in that nation.
I cannot say how impressed I was with these heroes who risk their lives every single day in the service of our Nation, and with the senior military officers who lead them. We owe these brave Americans a huge debt of gratitude for their courage, sacrifice, and professionalism. But we owe them much more than that. We owe them a strategy and a framework for completing this mission. We owe them a sense of conviction that this is not going to be an indefinite struggle. That is why I joined with Senator Levin and others in crafting this amendment, which we hope will be embraced on a bipartisan basis. This amendment would require the President to publicly lay out for the first time a strategy and framework for our troops to follow so that they can successfully complete the mission in Iraq and come home.
Recently, the President told the American people that Iraq has made incredible political progress: from tyranny, to liberation, to national elections, to a new constitution in the space of 2 1/2 years.
I agree with that assessment, but that is not a strategy for success. It is a statement of discrete events that have thus far occurred in Iraq, albeit positive events. Our troops and the American people deserve more than that, in my view. They certainly deserve more than simply being told that the strategy is: When they stand up, we will stand down. What our troops are looking for, what I believe the American people are looking for, what Iraq and Iraq's neighbors are looking for, is a clearly articulated strategy, a timetable which culminates in the election of a sovereign, inclusive Iraqi government with the expertise and experience to govern effectively. Thus far, the administration has failed to articulate such a strategy or such a timetable.
Before success can be a reality, however, competent Iraqi security and police forces, respectful of the civilian authority, must be at the ready to secure Iraq's borders and provide security within its territory.
And fundamental to achieving success, in my view, is ensuring that the vast majority of Iraqi Kurds, Sunnis, and Shi'as have bought into whatever political architecture emerges from the upcoming elections. At the moment, that is not a given.
Some but not all Iraqis have decided that the road to reconciliation and inclusion is the right road. Others remain mistrustful and uncertain. Although the latter may be a minority, it is painfully evident that they have the capacity to derail progress for all Iraqis.
With more than 160,000 American servicemen in Iraq, our presence and our policies are going to be pivotal in helping to shape Iraq's future. But the United States, despite all of its military strength, cannot, through force alone, remake Iraq. Moreover, the longer U.S. troops remain an occupying force there, the greater the hatred and disaffection among Iraqis and the larger attraction for foreign jihadists.
That is why it is especially important that the administration proceed with some sense of urgency in setting forth its strategy for involving Iraq's neighbors in addressing the political, ethnic, and tribal divisions that exist in Iraq and fuel instability, particularly so in light of the size of the ``no'' vote cast by Sunni voters against the new constitution.
The Levin amendment imbues the administration with that urgency. It states that U.S. forces should not remain in Iraq indefinitely. It establishes expectations that calendar year 2006 should be a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty, thereby creating the conditions for the phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq. It stresses the need for compromise among Iraqis to achieve a sustainable sovereign government. And most important, it calls upon the President no later than 30 days after enactment of this bill to tell the American people his campaign plan and estimated dates for the redeployment of U.S. forces.
The pending amendment provides concrete ideas for completing our mission in Iraq successfully, for phased redeployment of U.S. combat forces, for reassuring Iraq and its neighbors that we have no ulterior motives with respect to Iraq's future, and for restoring America's influence and prestige.
A successful strategy for Iraq will free-up critical resources and personnel to enable America to address urgent homeland security priorities: protecting schools and hospitals, water and power stations, and other vital locations; equipping our firefighters and other first responders who are the first line of defense in our communities against acts of terror; and fortifying our Nation's transportation infrastructure.
Today, America is less secure than it was 5 years ago, as resources have been diverted from programs to maintain the readiness of our Armed Forces, and to strengthen our homeland security, in order to pay for the continuing occupation of Iraq. It is time for the Bush administration to make a major course correction in our policy in Iraq if we are going to be successful, one that will bring our military involvement nearer to a close. It is time for the administration to refocus attention and resources on our Nation's real priorities--keeping America strong, secure, and prosperous for the 21 century.
I urge my colleagues to take a good look at the Levin amendment. It has been worked on for the last week by a number of us who have tried to come up with a plan for success, recognizing the achievements that have occurred but also laying out a strategy of how to succeed in the coming months. We cannot continue on the path we are on indefinitely. It will not work. It has cost us dearly at home and abroad.
I think that this amendment is one that many of my colleagues could be drawn to. It doesn't lay out timetables definitely, but it does lay out a framework, a strategy for success. I urge my colleagues to vote to adopt this amendment when it comes to a vote tomorrow.
I yield the floor.
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Mr. DODD. I thank my colleague. I am pleased to join with my colleague from Tennessee in this effort. I commend our colleagues from around the country who joined us, including our friend from South Carolina, the most recent cosponsor of this legislation.
One out of every eight babies in our country is born prematurely--that is 1,300 infants every day and over 470,000 every year. The problems associated with prematurity are legion. We are making incredible advances in how we treat these children, but we need to do a lot more. I am not going to go to great length here except to commend my colleague from Tennessee and tell him how much I have enjoyed working with him on this issue.
This is a critically important issue. It is the kind of issue that deserves more attention. We hope to get that attention with these efforts. I commend him for his leadership. I am pleased to be a partner in this effort, and I am grateful to my colleagues for joining us in this endeavor.
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