[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 20, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6102-S6105]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IRAQ
Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I heard the distinguished deputy minority
[[Page S6103]]
leader speak last Friday morning in about a 15-minute speech, and he
just added another minute, about Iraq. So I come to the floor to
address the specific points the distinguished Senator just raised and
the potential amendments that will be offered on the floor.
I want to tell you about the flashback that went through my mind as I
sat in that chair and listened to that speech. The flashback was to my
generation's war in the 1960s and 1970s in Vietnam. The flashback was
to what I remember started in 1970 and culminated in 1972.
I commend my staff, in particular Andrew Billing, for spending the
weekend accumulating the speeches on the floor of the Senate from
August of 1970 to May of 1972, speeches by Cranston and McGovern and
Kennedy and Byrd and Humphrey. They talked about it was time for us to
start withdrawing, first not on a time certain, but by just a certain
number of troops, until the crescendo built so loud over 18 months it
became a date certain, August 31, 1972.
The debate on the Senate floor drove the policy of the United States
of America against communism and in defense of freedom, and all of us
remember what happened. The first steps were it wasn't a date certain,
it was 120,000 troops, and we went from a half million to 380,000 and
then to 240,000, and then when we got to 240,000, the resolution
became: Withdraw by August 31, 1972.
Anyone who was alive on that date who remembers that scene remembers
precisely what happened: the last of the Americans to leave Saigon on
the roof of our Nation's embassy being shot at by the Vietcong as they
were climbing a rope ladder into a Huey helicopter.
We lost over 50,000 American lives in Vietnam and a lot of them
between the beginning of that debate to withdraw in August of 1970
until the end of it in August of 1972.
I know there is a proposed amendment, probably by the Senator from
Michigan, that will begin the same way the amendments began over 30
years ago on this Senate floor: not a date certain, but a scaling down
of our commitment. And to that I want to address the damage that will
do to our effort.
First and foremost, it hands a victory to our enemy they cannot win
on the battlefield. The terrorists have said it is to psychologically
destroy the will of America that they want to win the battle. They know
they can't win it on the battlefield. Why should we begin to question
our resolve and, worst of all, why should we repeat the horrible
mistake of the way in which we managed our conflict in the seventies?
It is time we recognized that we are winning a great victory for
mankind, not just the Iraqi people; that America went to enforce a U.N.
resolution when the U.N. would not; that we deposed a dictator that
everybody said was bad. We won in Afghanistan over the Taliban, and we
are winning in Iraq today over the insurgency headed by al-Qaida.
Have some of us forgotten 9/11/2001? Have we forgotten the USS Cole?
Have we forgotten the fatwa issued in 1996 when war was declared by al-
Qaida on the United States of America? Most Americans haven't.
I want to conclude by three little stories about the past month in my
life.
I stood on the courthouse steps in Walton County, GA, this Saturday
welcoming home eight members of the 48th Brigade from Iraq. I stood
there with all the citizens of Monroe and Walton Counties cheering them
on--all the citizens, including Robert Stokely, the father of SGT Mike
Stokely who died in August of 2005 in Iraq. He came up and gave me
Michael's dog tag, hugged me, grabbed my hand, and he welcomed home
those eight soldiers, knowing that his son, Michael, the ninth, was not
home with them, but he was proud of his effort.
Let's make sure Michael didn't die in vain. Let's not lose our
resolve on the floor of the Senate.
The second incident I want to describe is what happened yesterday in
the Atlanta airport. I was late. I was running for my flight. I went
through the atrium. All of a sudden a huge round of applause erupted. I
stopped. I didn't know what in the world was going on. I turned and
looked, and there marched about 30 members of the United States Army in
their desert fatigues on the way to an airplane, probably on their way
to Iraq, and all those citizens in that airport from around the world
flying through Atlanta stopped to give them a standing ovation.
I don't think those people would want us to set deadlines,
timetables, and withdraw from the ultimate battle.
And my last analogy is in Margraten in the Netherlands 3 weeks ago
when Senators Craig, Specter, Burr, and myself sat on a beautiful sun-
lit day before 7,000 Dutch in the American Cemetery in the Netherlands
as the Royal Dutch Air Force flew over in a missing-man formation and
as the Royal Dutch Senior Man's Choir sang ``God Bless America.''
I stood there for the better part of an hour having my hand shook by
citizens of Holland thanking me for what Americans did 62 years ago
when they invaded Normandy, fought the Battle of the Bulge, and deposed
Adolph Hitler.
There is nothing different about the hatred and intolerance for
humanity, race, and religion of Adolph Hitler and the intolerance for
race, religion, and faith of al-Qaida. The battle is just as great. The
warriors may be different, the site may be different, the methodology
may be different, but the result would be the same.
Had we not stayed the course in the 1940s, the world would have lost.
If we do not stay the course today, if we turn our back, the world will
lose again.
Once again, the sons and daughters of the United States of America
are fighting the right war in the right place at the right time for the
right reason. For us to talk about timetables or suggest drawdowns or
compromise our commitment is just plain wrong.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I compliment our distinguished colleague
from Georgia for his remarks. I hope throughout the day colleagues on
both sides will address this critical issue with regard to our future
policies in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, it is amazing to me that less than a week
after the President returned from Iraq, having visited with the new
Government leaders there, and having disclosed the death of the top al-
Qaida leader Zarqawi, in Iraq, colleagues in the Senate would actually
be proposing withdrawal from Iraq.
The strategy there needs to be to win, not to withdraw. Withdrawal
follows victory. If we think about the wars we have gone into--think
about World War II, for example--would it have made any sense for the
Congress of the United States to pass a resolution saying to Franklin
Roosevelt: You set a deadline for getting out of Germany and for
getting out of Japan or we are not going to continue to support this
effort? It would have been ludicrous at the time. More importantly, it
sends a message to our troops, to our enemies, and to our allies, and
to the people in Iraq that is devastating.
Let me read a letter that was written by one of our soldiers
stationed in Fallujah recently to his hometown newspaper in Ridgefield,
CT, which expresses what I suspect is the view of many of our soldiers.
Here is what he said:
In Fallujah, the people watch Al-Jazeerah. However, they
also watch CNN. A lot of them fear the United States will
soon cut and run. . . . Furthermore, they know that the
insurgents will not end their efforts early . . . Therefore,
if they help us, their lives and the lives of their loved
ones will be in great jeopardy the minute we leave--if we
don't finish the job. Much that they see on American
television leads them to believe that we intend to abandon
our efforts before the new Iraqi Government is capable of
defending itself and its citizens.
The bottom line is that the people in Iraq watch what we do, our
friends and our enemies, and much of our ability to win there depends
upon figuring out which is going to be the winning side. They want to
be on the winning side. They don't want to side with us only to have us
cut and run, leaving them with these insurgents who will find out who
they are and take care of business. Obviously, we have to send a
message to them that we intend to prevail and therefore they can side
with us.
What we will learn is that much of our ability to get al-Zarqawi and
others depends upon the cooperation of the
[[Page S6104]]
Iraqis themselves. A lot of our intelligence comes from the fact that
Iraqis believe we are there to stay until the job is done, and if they
help us, they can hasten that day. But if they come to believe that
they help us, we leave, and then the insurgents find out who they are,
we are not going to get any more help. It is going to delay the time
that we can leave rather than accelerate that time.
The people in the region, the countries that surround Iraq, would be
in the very same position. They have decided that they are going to be
on the side of the winner, and they believe right now the United States
is the winner in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and certainly the leaders of
Pakistan, of Saudi Arabia, of Lebanon, each of the countries
surrounding has decided to throw in with us. As the President said, you
are either for us or against us. If we cut and run from Iraq, those
countries are not going to be able to stay with us, and what we will
have done is to prove what Osama bin Laden said is true, and that is
that instead of the strong horse, we are the weak horse. That is what
the people in the region are waiting to see.
So these concepts--whether it is an immediate withdrawal or simply
the beginning of a phased withdrawal this year, with the President
being required to submit a plan for complete withdraw by the end of
next year--are all part and parcel of the same thing: a message to the
enemy that we are leaving and here is our timetable for leaving. All
you have to do is wait until we are gone and then it is yours for the
taking. That is not just destructive for the Iraqi people; the whole
point is that it is destructive for our whole policy in winning the war
against the terrorists.
They have to believe we are on the offensive, we are going after
them, and we won't quit until we win. But by pulling out of Iraq, we
are sending the signal that by simply hanging on, by causing us trouble
with roadside bombs and other mechanisms, all they have to do is wait
us out; we will lose patience, we will lose nerve, we will leave, and
that is how they win the war on terror.
So it is not just about the Iraqi people and their ability to govern
themselves in freedom or the people of Afghanistan; it is about the
message it sends to the people who are today with us in the war on
terror. It is about our ability to continue to show that we are winning
the war on terror, and that they better side with us rather than side
with people who are going to lose. It is all about winning the war over
there so that we don't have to worry as much about attacks in the
United States.
This is a multifaceted war. There are enemies all over the globe. The
best way to win that war is through good intelligence and then taking
the fight to the enemy. Right now, the bulk of that fighting is in
Iraq, and it is there that we have to confront the enemy and defeat the
enemy. If we pull out through these sort of sugar-coated notions of
phased withdrawals--not a deadline--not cut and run--it is just a
phased withdrawal, what kind of a signal does that send? It still
creates a date, a timetable, and a message to the enemy that we are, in
fact, going to be leaving, and all they have to do is wait us out.
So I say to my colleagues, these kinds of proposals should be soundly
rejected as they were last week, both in the Senate and in the House of
Representatives, and we should be sending the signal to our troops, as
well as to our enemies and to our allies: we are there to stay until
victory, not until we achieve some artificial deadline.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for his contributions
to this debate. I simply would add this one very important thought I
have had all along. This has been a struggle of a nation to achieve its
place in the world of governments of democracy. They have had--if there
is one sign of courage amongst the Iraqi people, and today regrettably
there is so much strife and killing, but these people have gone to the
polls in record numbers three consecutive times. You need only look at
history and the difficulty of forming a government to say that the
newly elected government, a permanent government now, at long last, is
a unified government, and it has been achieved in a matter of months.
They were tough months, to wait them out. It is interesting that it
took 8 years in a way for this great Nation of ours to achieve the
final form of government that we have today.
So the Iraqi Government is in place, and we must recognize it is a
sovereign nation, and they have to make decisions on their own. The
Iraqi people cannot perceive that we are dictating how they will
exercise their sovereignty. We are committed to stay there with our
forces and the coalition forces to enable them to exercise their choice
and the means by which to provide sovereignty for their people.
So I thank my distinguished colleague, and I think this will, in the
hours and days to come, unfold into a very strong and vigorous debate
on these issues. But in the end, always allow the beacon of
sovereignty, which we have enabled through enormous sacrifice to allow
them to achieve, to be the beacon that we must follow.
Mr. President, I understand that my distinguished colleague from
Rhode Island is prepared to address the Senate for a period of 20
minutes or so is my understanding, and if that is in accordance with
the wishes of my ranking member, he may so state.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I would ask the Senator from Rhode Island,
who is under a unanimous consent agreement to be recognized for 20
minutes, to yield to me for 2 minutes.
Mr. REED. I will yield.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I noticed Senator Kyl again uses rhetoric
which they apparently have decided will be used no matter what the
facts of any particular proposal are. I would just point out in this
morning's Washington Post that Mr. al-Rubaie, who is the National
Security Adviser for Iraq, has argued that by year's end, we envision
the U.S. troop presence to be under 100,000. That would be at least a
30,000 reduction. I wonder whether people, or Senators, who are going
to mischaracterize the Levin-Reed et al amendment are going to also
then suggest that the Security Adviser to the new Prime Minister of
Iraq supports cut and run when he says that they envision a reduction
of American troops to be below 100,000 by the end of this year, and he
sets forth in this morning's Washington Post all of the reasons it is
so important that foreign troops be redeployed, including to legitimize
Iraq's Government in the eyes of its people.
I ask unanimous consent that the entire article written by the
Security Adviser to the new Prime Minister, Mr. al-Rubaie, be printed
in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Washington Post]
The Way Out of Iraq: A Road Map
(By Mowaffak al-Rubaie)
There has been much talk about a withdrawal of U.S. and
coalition troops from Iraq, but no defined timeline has yet
been set. There is, however, an unofficial ``road map'' to
foreign troop reductions that will eventually lead to total
withdrawal of U.S. troops. This road map is based not just on
a series of dates but, more important, on the achievement of
set objectives for restoring security in Iraq.
Iraq has a total of 18 governorates, which are at differing
stages in terms of security. Each will eventually take
control of its own security situation, barring a major
crisis. But before this happens, each governorate will have
to meet stringent minimum requirements as a condition of
being granted control. For example, the threat assessment of
terrorist activities must be low or on a downward trend.
Local police and the Iraqi army must be deemed capable of
dealing with criminal gangs, armed groups and militias, and
border control. There must be a clear and functioning
command-and-control center overseen by the governor, with
direct communication to the prime minister's situation room.
Despite the seemingly endless spiral of violence in Iraq
today, such a plan is already in place. All the governors
have been notified and briefed on the end objective. The
current prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has approved the
plan, as have the coalition forces, and assessments of each
province have already been done. Nobody believes this is
going to be an easy task, but there is Iraqi and coalition
resolve to start taking the final steps to have a fully
responsible Iraqi government accountable to its people for
their governance and security. Thus far four of the 18
provinces are ready for the transfer of power--two in the
north (Irbil and Sulaymaniyah) and two in the South (Maysan
and Muthanna). Nine more provinces are nearly ready.
With the governors of each province meeting these strict
objectives, Iraq's ambition is to have full control of the
country by the end of 2008. In practice this will mean
significant foreign troop reduction. We envisage
[[Page S6105]]
the U.S. troop presence by year's end to the under 100,000,
with most of the remaining troops to return home by the end
of 2007.
The eventual removal of coalition troops from Iraq streets
will help the Iraqis, who now see foreign troops as occupiers
rather than the liberators they were meant to be. It will
remove psychological barriers and the reason that many Iraqis
joined the so-called resistance in the first place. The
removal of troops will also allow the Iraqi government to
engage with some of our neighbors that have to date been at
the very least sympathetic to the resistance because of what
they call the ``coalition of occupation.'' If the sectarian
issue continues to cause conflict with Iraq's neighbors, this
matter needs to be addressed urgently and openly--not in the
guise of aversion to the presence of foreign troops.
Moreover, the removal of foreign troops will legitimize
Iraq's government in the eyes of its people. It has taken
what some feel is an eternity to form a government of
national unity. This has not been an easy or enviable task,
but it represents a significant achievement, considering that
many new ministers are working in partisan situations, often
with people with whom they share a history of enmity and
distrust. By its nature, the government of national unity,
because it is working through consensus, could be perceived
to be weak. But, again, the drawdown of foreign troops will
strengthen our fledging government to last the full four
years it is supposed to.
While Iraq is trying to gain its independence from the
United States and the coalition, in terms of taking greater
responsibility for its actions, particularly in terms of
security, there are still some influential foreign figures
trying to spoon-feed our government and take a very proactive
role in many key decisions. Through this many provide some
benefits in the short term, in the long run it will only
serve to make the Iraqi government a weaker one and
eventually lead to a culture of dependency. Iraq has to grow
out of the shadow of the United States and the coalition,
take responsibility for its own decisions, learn from its own
mistakes, and find Iraqi solutions to Iraqi problems, with
the knowledge that our friends and allies are standing by
with support and help should we need it.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that after Senator
Reed is recognized--the chairman and I have talked about this--at that
point, the Dorgan amendment be the matter before the Senate. I believe
that the Senator from Virginia and I have agreed that Senator Dorgan
would be recognized for 10 minutes, to be followed then by the chairman
for 5 minutes, and the intention then would be to proceed to a rollcall
vote.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we are fully in concurrence as managers,
but I would like to have the benefit of our leaders and the respective
staff working up a unanimous consent agreement precisely outlining
that. Then, as I further discussed with my colleague from Michigan, we
had hopes that the matter raised by the Senator from Florida, Mr.
Nelson, in which he had an amendment relating to the issue of amnesty,
be addressed together with the side-by-side amendment by the Senator
from Kentucky, Mr. McConnell. So I hope that while hearing from our
colleague from Rhode Island addressing the Senate, we can have a
formalized UC agreement.
I yield the floor.
____________________