[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 133 (Wednesday, October 19, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11504-S11505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            IRAQ AND THE INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is 
testifying today at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She will be 
meeting with the full Senate later for a classified briefing.
  I am sure one of the topics that will be discussed at length will be 
the Iraqi constitutional referendum of this last Saturday. That vote 
was an important milestone. The voting by so many Iraqis was again a 
demonstrable act of courage. It is my most sincere hope that in the 
months to come, the political process in Iraq moves forward, that a 
stable government takes control in Iraq, and that Iraq takes control of 
its own future.
  But similar to many of my colleagues, and a growing majority of 
Americans, we will not be satisfied with the status quo or the stay-
the-course answers that we hear over and over from the White House when 
it comes to the situation in Iraq. The most fundamental questions we 
have to ask of this President and this administration are, What is your 
plan for victory? What is your plan for success? What is your plan to 
bring American troops home from Iraq?
  It now seems evident that the constitution will pass. It also seems 
evident that despite substantial opposition from the Sunni minority, no 
province will reject this constitution or, if any do, there will not be 
enough to, in fact, reject the whole document.
  Sunnis make up 20 percent of the population but 90 percent of the 
insurgency in Iraq. Sectarian violence is claiming the lives of 
thousands of Iraqis. We can't even calculate how many. Some are fearful 
that this country could still fall apart.
  Saturday's election is no guarantee of long-term democracy in Iraq, 
but it was an important step forward and one that I applaud. The 
government that may now emerge needs to build legitimacy in Iraq and 
with its neighbors. It needs to take back control of its country from 
insurgency, chaos, and lawlessness so that American troops can come 
home.
  Iraq cannot succeed if the Sunnis--one in five of the Iraqis--feel 
disenfranchised and alienated. It is a challenge to their leaders to 
put together a government now that truly reflects their country, to 
build not just a coalition of tribes but a nation. This must happen 
because the cost of destroying and now replacing the governing regime 
in Iraq has been so costly.
  Saturday was a good day in Iraq, for sure. But the elections last 
January 30 also represented a good day for Iraq, and 543 Americans have 
lost their lives in Iraq since that election last January. Mr. 
President, 15,063 American service men and women have been wounded in 
Iraq, and 1,979 Americans have been killed. We are closing in on that 
awesome figure of 2,000 of our best and bravest soldiers having given 
their lives in Iraq.
  Iraq passed an important milestone Saturday with the constitutional 
referendum. The process was a refreshing demonstration of democracy at 
work in a region unaccustomed to such a display of civic participation. 
But the product, some have argued, is flawed. Nonetheless, Iraqis, with 
their vote, have taken a step in this political process forward. This 
opportunity for Iraq has come at a high cost for America.
  As the number of Americans killed continues to grow, and the number 
of injured increases as well, do we have a clear plan in place? At what 
moment in time will the Iraqi Army battalions be prepared to step 
forward so that Americans can step back? At what point in time will the 
Iraqi police force, the Iraqi security forces, say, ``We can now 
control our own country and now Americans can go home''?
  This administration gives us the vaguest notion that it is somehow 
wrong to think about when that date may come. Perhaps it is wrong to 
announce it but not to have a plan to reach it. It is something that 
concerns me.
  A few weeks ago, Generals Casey and Abizaid told a meeting in 
Congress that only one battalion was prepared to stand and fight by 
itself in Iraq today--only one battalion of the Iraqi Army. It is a far 
cry from 150,000-plus American soldiers who stand and fight today, who 
risk their lives today.
  Today, the trial of Saddam Hussein is beginning. We were greeted this 
morning with all the major news organizations showing the closed-
circuit videotape and film of the trial. It is a good thing that he is 
standing trial because he is a vicious murderer, a thug, and a monster 
of a human being.
  However, Americans are questioning, still, whether or not we have 
paid too heavy a price for this day to have arrived and asking of this 
administration, now that he is standing trial: How much longer will we 
be standing trial in Iraq as we wait for the outcome each day of the 
bloody fighting?
  What has changed since May of 2003 is that the costs of the war have 
risen, are still climbing; the trust the American people have placed in 
the President has been shaken. What has also changed is, while the cost 
of war continues to grow, the alleged justifications for the war have 
multiplied, and the clarity of our purpose has diminished dramatically. 
This is a terrible and tragic combination.
  Saddam was a monster. That is true. But we must never forget that of 
all the many reasons given to us by this administration to invade Iraq, 
the evil nature of Saddam was the only one that has proven true. Except 
for the brutality of Saddam Hussein--as bad as it was, as horrible as 
it was--all the other reasons for going to war the administration put 
forth turned out not to be accurate. There were no weapons of mass 
destruction. We still, many years later, have found no evidence of that 
claim, made over and over and over again at the highest levels of this 
administration.
  The 9/11 Commission showed us there was no support for al-Qaida in 
Iraq. Yet as recently as last Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza 
Rice tried to again link al-Qaida and 9/11 with Saddam Hussein.
  The 9/11 Commission made it clear, there is no linkage. The war has 
not increased our own security. Some can argue--and I think 
convincingly--that it has made the world a more dangerous place. It has 
created a training ground for terrorism in Iraq where insurgents come 
from surrounding countries to train themselves in killing American 
soldiers, to go out and do even worse to Americans and others all 
around the world.
  The only reason left for this war was the removal of Saddam Hussein. 
Two-thirds of Americans, when they measure that benefit against the 
enormous cost in blood and treasure, conclude it may not have been 
worth that price. Nearly $200 billion has been spent, nearly 2,000 
Americans have been killed, and the pricetag goes up every day in terms 
of American lives and American treasure.
  Our national interest has suffered in other ways as well. The war has 
altered the international strategic environment to our disadvantage. 
Let's begin with Iran. Iran gives every sign that it is determined to 
acquire nuclear weapons. Such a development threatens regional 
stability and our own national security. It is not in our interest or 
the world's interest. In August, the Bush administration went to the 
diplomats of more than a dozen countries and presented an hour-long 
slide show on Iran's nuclear program. This PowerPoint briefing 
incorporated satellite imagery and other data to try to convince other 
nations that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at producing

[[Page S11505]]

weapons, not energy. But who could look at such a slide show and not 
think back to February 2003, when Secretary of State Colin Powell made 
a similar case to the United Nations about the existence of weapons of 
mass destruction in Iraq? An embarrassing moment. That was, in my 
opinion, the low point in a very distinguished and noble public career 
of national service of Secretary of State Colin Powell. Indeed, it was 
the stature of Secretary Powell alone that lent such force to that 
argument. To learn later that the facts were not there had to be a 
crushing blow to this man who has given so much to America.
  Two years later we found no weapons of mass destruction. Mohamed 
ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency told us there were 
no weapons of mass destruction. We ignored them. They asked for more 
time to prove their point; we rejected it. The Bush administration 
decided we had to invade. We couldn't wait for allies. We couldn't wait 
for proof. We couldn't wait. Now ElBaradei and the IAEA have been 
proven right and recently were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
  The damage to our national credibility by presenting a distorted case 
for the war has been severe. Our ability to persuade the international 
community is now diminished. So is our ability to draw in allies to 
join us in this effort. And the beneficiaries of our policies sadly 
have been many rogue nations. Like the boy who cried wolf, America now 
must overcome the damage done to our credibility by false claims that 
we laid before the world as the justification for the invasion of Iraq. 
At the same time, the dangers of terrorism to our Nation, our 
personnel, and citizens abroad, and our friends and allies have grown. 
The war in Iraq drained away financial resources, military forces, and 
intelligence experts from the war on terror. Osama bin Laden still 
remains at large, over 4 years after September 11. Where terrorists 
once had training camps to hone their skills, they now have a war 
itself in Iraq. Sadly, our soldiers are their targets.
  Recently, the Director of National Intelligence released a letter 
apparently from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 leader in al-Qaida, to Mr. 
al-Zarqawi, the group's top agent in Iraq. The letter provides a 
chilling portrait of a cold-blooded terrorist. I know many people will 
try to use this letter to solidify their arguments of why we need to 
stay in Iraq. I don't advocate a precipitous tomorrow-like withdrawal 
from Iraq. I think that would be disastrous. But the Zawahiri letter is 
one more piece of evidence that Iraq has now become a center of 
terrorist activity, whereas before the war it was not. The horrible 
irony of this war is that President Bush's invasion has created more 
energy behind terrorism in the Middle East.
  The President is offering America a false choice when he says we have 
to decide between resolve and retreat in Iraq. We must not just 
withdraw, but we cannot simply stay the same course that has brought us 
to this place in time. If we simply withdraw now, the current 
instability in Iraq would balloon into a full civil war, and we will 
have produced another failed state, owned and operated by terrorists 
like the Taliban in Afghanistan. If we just keep doing what we have 
been doing, we will continue to spend American tax dollars and, more 
importantly, sacrifice the lives of our brave soldiers. We must take 
positive action to try to alter the strategic equation that has fueled 
terrorism and placed a heavy strain on our Army, National Guard, and 
Reserves, constrained our options toward Iran and North Korea, and cost 
us nearly 2,000 American lives in Iraq.
  Diplomacy has to be part of this new campaign. Our military leaders 
make it clear, they cannot defeat the insurgency. The way to defeat 
insurgency is politically and economically and diplomatically. Right 
now there are almost no troops from Muslim nations who are fighting at 
the side of the Iraqi government. There are almost no Arab diplomats in 
Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice must reach out to the Arab 
gulf states and others and convince them that a secure and stable Iraq 
is in their interest as well as ours and that they must assume some of 
the risk and burden of this enterprise. That is no easy sell, given the 
way we have approached this war to date. But it is an effort that we 
must undertake, along with the Iraqis themselves.
  The President needs to let the Iraqi people know that we will not 
remain indefinitely in Iraq, and communicate that message to the rest 
of the world as well. The Iraqi government and its security forces need 
to prepare for assuming all the functions expected of them by a free 
and sovereign Iraqi people to defend their own nation so American 
troops can come home. The administration's admission, however, that 
only one battalion of the Iraqi army is capable of operating on its own 
does not really bring us any closer to meeting this goal. It is the 
responsibility of the administration to make it clear why we have not 
done better in training and preparing Iraqi soldiers to replace 
American soldiers, and it is the responsibility of this administration 
to train Iraqi security forces so that, in fact, our soldiers can come 
home. It is time for the people and leaders of Iraq to take control of 
their own country and their own destiny.
  We are not abandoning Iraq. Indeed, we and Iraqis themselves must 
reach out to other partners, especially the predominantly Muslim 
countries, to collaborate in the consolidation of Iraqi security and 
democracy. We are not setting a date for departure. We are simply 
letting the Iraqis know, in the clearest possible terms, that we intend 
to bring our forces home. Reminding all concerned that we will not stay 
refutes the assertion that we intend to establish permanent military 
bases in Iraq, an allegation that, unfortunately, fuels the insurgency.
  We should do nothing that would mislead the Iraqis into thinking they 
have unlimited time to take control of their own destiny. An unending 
American occupation is neither in Iraq's interest nor in ours. If the 
Iraqis made progress on Saturday, moving toward a constitution, moving 
toward a government, moving toward a nation, we must tell them that 
there is a responsibility of nationhood that goes beyond the obvious 
establishment of government. The most important responsibility is to 
secure your own borders, to protect your own people, to provide for the 
common defense of your own nation. Now that is a responsibility that 
must be shouldered by the Iraqis. If we are uncertain in speaking to 
this new Iraqi government about our plans and our timetable in Iraq, 
then I think they will count on American soldiers to be there risking 
their lives indefinitely. That is unacceptable.
  This administration has to make it clear that Iraqi army soldiers are 
prepared to shoulder that burden and to give relief to American 
soldiers so that they can return home to a hero's welcome and to their 
families who wait anxiously for that day.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Vitter). The Senator from Delaware.

                          ____________________