Jeff Merkley Endorses Responsible Plan to End Iraq War

Press Release

On the eve of the five-year anniversary of the Iraq war, House Speaker Jeff Merkley endorsed A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, authored by Major General Paul Eaton (U.S. ARMY RET.) former Security Transition Commanding General, Iraq; Dr. Lawrence Korb former Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration; Brigadier General John Johns (U.S. ARMY RET.) specialist in counterinsurgency and nation-building; and Capt. Larry Seaquist (U.S. NAVY) and presented by Washington Congressional candidate Darcy Burner and other House candidates around the country.

"I opposed this war publicly from the very beginning. It's now long past time to bring our sons and daughters home, repay the debt we owe our veterans, and restore America's standing in the world," said House Speaker Jeff Merkley said. "Gordon Smith and the Bush Administration led us into this war and have never offered a plan to get us out. Smith has manipulated and confused the media and the public and done nothing to bring an end to this war."

The Smith Myth is that he opposes the war.

- Yet despite claiming to oppose the war, Gordon Smith voted five times in 2007 to keep troops in Iraq.

- From 2002 to 2007, Gordon Smith voted over 20 times to fund and authorize the Iraq war.

- Gordon Smith supports pro-Iraq war candidate John McCain. If elected, McCain has promised to have no timelines and keep us in Iraq indefinitely.

A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, unveiled today by candidates across the country, will not wait for a new President in January 2008, but will begin to end the war now bringing American troops home today. Second, the plan calls for a new diplomatic dialogue with allies in the Middle East and around the world to gain back the trust that has been lost over the last eight years. The plan calls for increased Iraqi involvement in rebuilding the country by replacing American contractors with Iraqi contractors. And tribal leaders in Iraq will have to take responsibility for what's happening in the region.

Just yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney declared that the War in Iraq had been a "successful endeavor".

The plan to end the war will immediately:

- End military action in Iraq and transition control of and responsibility for Iraq to the Iraqis;

- Create the capacity for nation-building and the use of diplomatic power by both the United States and the international community; and

- Commit to human rights in Iraq.

The plan will also prevent another military disaster like Iraq, by:

- Restoring American moral standing in the world;

- Restoring transparency and accountability to the executive branch;

- Incorporating ongoing war funding into the normal Congressional budgeting process;

- Removing fraud and abuse from the U.S. contracting system; and

- Developing a clean energy economy.

Jeff Merkley spent his early years in rural communities where the children of loggers and mill workers learned the value of honest work, good neighbors, and strong families. Jeff earned scholarships and became the first in his family to go to college. To stop nuclear proliferation, he went on to serve as a national security analyst, first for the Pentagon and then for Congress. After returning to Oregon with his wife Mary, Jeff led Habitat for Humanity and worked with low-income families to rebuild neighborhoods and purchase their first home.

Eighteen months ago, Jeff led a band of progressives to take control of the Oregon House and became the first Democratic speaker in sixteen years. The Register-Guard called Jeff's session as speaker "one of the most productive in decades." He fought special interests to make health care more affordable, clamped down on pay day loan scams, passed landmark environmental legislation, and created thousands of family-supporting jobs in Oregon.

Today, Speaker Merkley lives in East Multnomah County with Mary and their two children, Jonathan age eleven and Brynne age ten.

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