Iraq

IRAQ -- (Senate - February 15, 2007)

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Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I take this time, first, to commend the majority leader, Senator Reid, for doing everything in his power to bring up the most important issue we face as a nation, and that is the future of Iraq.

I must tell you, as I travel through the State of Maryland, the citizens of my State ask: What are we doing to change the course in Iraq? What are we doing?

Senator Reid has proposed a way that we can have an up-or-down vote on the most pressing issue of our time, and that is whether we are going to introduce more American troops, escalate our presence in Iraq--an up-or-down vote. The other body will be holding that vote some time tomorrow. Every Member of that body will go on record either for or against the President's proposal to escalate our presence in Iraq with additional American troops.

We need to have that same vote in this body, and we should not be looking at procedural obstacles that prevent us from going on record whether we favor or oppose the President's proposals.

I look at what the President is suggesting, putting additional troops in Iraq, as more of the same, not a new plan. If we learned anything at all from the elections last November, it was that the people of this Nation want to see a change in direction in Iraq. They understand our plans have not worked, that we need to look for a new direction. And yet the President is giving us more of the same.

What we need to do is start by saying no to the escalation of additional troops, and then we need to look at what are the right policies in Iraq. Quite frankly, to me, we need to have the Iraqis stand up and defend their own country, with Iraqis assuming principal responsibility and American troops starting to come home. We need to engage diplomacy. We are in the middle of a civil war.

We need to engage the international community to look for a political solution so that Iraqis have confidence in their own Government and Sunnis and Shiites can live together in one country. We need to engage the international community to help rebuild Iraq. They need help in the rebuilding of their country, and they certainly need the help of the international community in training Iraqis to take care of their own needs.

Americans have made a significant investment in this country. We have given so much. Four years ago, I opposed the military presence of America in Iraq. I voted against it in the other body. I said at that time:

I have grave concerns about the consequences of a unilateral preemptive military attack by the United States. Such a course of action could endanger our global coalition against terrorism, particularly from our moderate Arab allies. It also may increase terrorism activities around the world.

Unfortunately, I was right. I remember the predictions that were made 4 years ago that this would be a relatively brief military operation, that we would be welcomed by the Iraqis, that the Iraqis would be able to take care of the security of their own country, that the standard of living for the average Iraqi would increase dramatically.

Unfortunately, that has not come true. The reality of the situation is that over 3,100 American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq. Over 20,000 American soldiers have had life-changing injuries as a result of their service in Iraq. Hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money has been spent in Iraq, and terrorism is on the increase in that region, not diminished. And we are in the middle of a civil war, with sectarian violence increasing.

The Iraqis, having passed their constitution, have elected their Government, and it is time for the Iraqis to take responsibility for controlling the sectarian violence in their own country. More troops will not solve the problem. More American troops will not solve the problem in Iraq.

I am a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. We completed over 3 weeks of hearings concerning the current status in Iraq. We heard from military experts and foreign policy experts, generals and policy people. I must tell you, they raise serious questions as to whether we can win the war in Iraq on the battlefield. They are telling us over and over again that what we need is a surge in diplomacy, not additional American troops. We need to signal the Iraqi Government, the international community, and, most importantly, the American people that our presence in Iraq is not indefinite. More American troops will not bring about victory in Iraq. More diplomacy might. More engagement of the international community might. But more American troops will not.

It is time for this body to act. It is time for us to debate the current circumstances in Iraq and the President's policy, and it is time for us to take action on the President's plan to escalate. That should be our first vote, and that is what Majority Leader Reid is attempting to do. But my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to use procedural roadblocks so we cannot have an up-or-down vote on the President's plan. We should never play politics with our American troops who are in harm's way. We shouldn't be doing that. But let us have a vote up or down on the President's policy, and then we need to look at other options.

The majority leader indicates that we will certainly be taking up the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, to implement their recommendations, and we will have an open debate and the opportunity to offer amendments as to how we can bring our troops home with honor, how we can engage the international community, how we can move forward in the Middle East. That we need to do. But we first must stop the escalation of American troops, and that is the vote the other body will be having as early as tomorrow, and I hope, with the support of my colleagues, we can have that vote by Saturday. That is what we should do.

I urge my colleagues to allow us to have the debate on this floor and an up-or-down vote on the President's plan to add additional American troops. Then I hope we will find some way to listen to what the experts are telling us, to listen to what the American people are telling us, that they want to see from our country a changed policy in Iraq. They want America to exercise its international leadership that only we can do. They want us to find a way to honorably bring our troops home, to energize the international community on diplomacy and on rebuilding Iraq. And they want the Iraqis to stand up and defend their own country in the midst of a civil war, and we will help end that civil war by allowing the Iraqis to take control of their own country and by energizing a diplomatic solution so that all the people in Iraq have confidence that their Government will protect their rights, and then working with the international community, helping build a type of country where the people can live in peace and prosperity. That should be our mission.

But let us start by removing the procedural roadblocks. Let us start by having an up-or-down vote, as the other body will have, on whether we support or oppose the President's plans to escalate American troops.

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