What Should Have Happened Last Week

What Should Have Happened Last Week - 6/22/2006

Press Releases

For Immediate Release: June 22, 2006 Contact: Danielle Radovich Piper 303-459-4729-office 720-980-4418-cell

What Should Have Happened Last Week

In the wake of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's welcome death and George Bush's surprise visit to Iraq, Congress had an important opportunity last week to have a thoughtful debate about our next steps in the war. Instead of seizing this opportunity for a real bipartisan message to our troops, to the Iraqi people and to the American people, the Republican leadership in Congress continued their rubber-stamp mentality by pushing a non-binding resolution that was mostly a congratulatory telegram to George Bush. The Republican leadership was not interested in uniting the country; instead, they played a cynical political game designed to create 30-second television ads against Democrats in the upcoming November election.

What should have happened last week? The President should have returned from Iraq and met with the leadership from both the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress. He should have urged the leadership to sit down together and craft a bipartisan resolution that would have sent a clear message that we can all agree upon: We can all agree that the American people want to see a stable and secure Iraq. We can all agree that it is up to the Iraqi people-- Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis -- to seize this moment in their history and support a united government. We can all agree that the civilized world is united against al-Qaeda, and we can all agree that Iraq deserves wide international and regional support for independence and security. And the President should have articulated a clear description of the mission in Iraq.

Congress ought to have then conducted a full and fair debate about our military and policy options in this critical period. We should have had a debate about the current mission, how best to use the next six months and how to implement a phased withdrawal and redeployment of our troops. We should have had a debate in Congress about the wisdom of a withdrawal timetable, the wisdom of an open-ended long-term commitment of military effort in Iraq, and the long-term consequences for Iraq and our own national security of redeployment.

Instead, we were witness to a political stunt. The Republican leadership had no interest in voting on amendments or policy resolutions. They were only interested in trying to embarrass Democrats. My own party did not help matters by releasing a smart policy agenda calling for a "New Direction" in America that did not mention Iraq. We can do better. In the 7th District, only Herb Rubenstein and I have taken specific and detailed stands on Iraq. Peggy Lamm avoided the issue during our debate in front of the Denver Forum, and only recently posted a small paragraph about Iraq on her web page. Our Republican opponent, Rick O'Donnell has said nothing about this most important issue.

No matter how you feel about the war, I urge you to get involved in supporting candidates who have the courage to speak their views openly and honestly.

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