[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 18984-18985]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, after 52 months--about 210 weeks--and about 
1,500 days, America finds itself mired in one of the most tragic 
foreign policy blunders in our Nation's history. The sad part about it 
is, there is no end in sight. In my view, and that of academics and 
others, it will take years, and even decades, to finally close the book 
on the damage this war has caused our troops, our economy, and our 
moral standing in the world.
  On May 24, 2007, President Bush said:

       We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. 
     This is a sovereign nation. Twelve million people went to the 
     polls to approve a constitution. It's their government's 
     choice. If they were to say leave, we would leave.

  That is the quote of President Bush.
  This weekend, Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki--for whom President Bush 
has expressed consistent support and confidence--said that Iraqi forces 
could take control of their security at ``any time'' American troops 
want to leave or were to leave.
  A recent poll of the Iraqi people showed that 21 percent think the 
American presence makes their country safer, while 69 percent say it 
puts them, the Iraqi people, at greater risk. That is what the Iraqis 
say.
  The Iraqi people and their leaders say they are ready for us to end 
our combat operation. I think it is time we listen to them.
  In the war's soon to be 5 years, our troops have accomplished 
everything they have been asked to do. They took down the Iraqi 
dictator. They secured the country for not one, not two, but three 
elections. They provided the security needed for Iraqi factions to come 
together to negotiate peaceful settlement of their differences.
  But the Iraqi leaders have not done their part. After these 52 
months: more than 3,600 Americans killed, tens of thousands wounded, 
and after nearly $600 billion of American taxpayer dollars spent. And 
after this sacrifice--52 months of sacrifice--it is long past time for 
the Iraqi leaders and the Iraqi people to put their words into action 
by taking responsibility for their own future. After 52 months, more 
than 3,600 Americans killed, tens of thousands wounded, and nearly 600 
billion in taxpayer dollars spent, President Bush continues to tell our 
troops and all Americans that we should wait it out, just stay the 
course. After 52 months, our troops and our security cannot afford the 
President's ``run-out-the-clock'' strategy.
  We have an opportunity and an obligation to change course in Iraq 
right now. We can remove our brave troops from the front lines of 
another country's civil war, a conflict we have no business policing 
and little chance to diffuse. We can conduct the kind of tough and 
strong diplomacy required to stabilize Iraq and the region, which even 
the President's own military experts plead with him to revise. 
Remember, General Petraeus has said the war cannot be won militarily. 
We can refocus our resources and fight a real war on terror that drives 
the terrorists back to the darkest caves and corners of the Earth.
  We can choose that path now. We don't have to mark time waiting for 
the President to wake up one morning with a change of heart or his term 
to run out. We don't have to wait 2 more months for an arbitrary 
September deadline when it is so clear a course change is required and 
required now. With our courage and our votes, we can rise above the 
tragic failure to deliver a new course that our brave troops and all 
Americans demand and deserve. We can do that today by voting for the 
Levin-Reed amendment to the Defense authorization bill.
  What does Levin-Reed do? It sets a firm date and an end date to 
transition the mission and begin the reduction of U.S. forces beginning 
120 days after enactment and completed by April 30 of 2008. Levin-Reed 
limits the U.S. military mission after April 30 to counterterrorism; 
the training of Iraqi security forces and protection of U.S. personnel 
and assets; requires that the reduction in forces be part of a 
comprehensive, diplomatic, regional, political, and economic effort; 
and appoints an international mediator to bring together the warring 
factions. That provision dealing with appointing an international 
mediator to bring together warring factions was newly placed in the 
bill. The idea and the language came from Senator Hagel of Nebraska and 
is a great addition to this amendment.
  To those who say this language is binding on the President, I say it 
is, and that is what it is meant to be. It is binding because the 
President has resisted every effort we have made to work with him to 
change the direction of his failed Iraq policy. The record will show 
that binding language was not our first choice. We passed legislation 
requiring that 2006 be a year of transition. Instead, the President 
ignored this language and dug us in even deeper into an intractable 
civil war. We gave the President a chance to develop his own new course 
as Commander in Chief. He refused to do that. Instead, he chose to 
extend deployments and ask even more of our brave men and women in 
uniform.
  Earlier this year we passed legislation that would have begun the 
phased redeployment while leaving significant discretion to the 
President about how and when to execute the redeployment. Instead, the 
President vetoed this bill and asserted that only he had the power to 
set war policy, even though we have a constitutional obligation to do 
so.
  So the record is clear, the President's decision to stubbornly cling 
to the current course leaves this body no choice but to enact binding 
language. He has failed to lead us out of Iraq. We are ready to show 
him the way.
  I am going to propound a unanimous consent. I have the greatest 
respect for my friend, the distinguished junior Senator from Arizona, 
but I say that I am going to enforce the rule that when I propound 
this, the distinguished Senator from Arizona should either agree to it 
or object. This is not the time for speeches because if he objects to 
it, I have more to say.
  So I ask unanimous consent that if the House further amends H.R. 1 
with the text of H.R. 1401 and requests a conference with the Senate--
Mr. President, I misread the first line. I ask unanimous consent that 
if the House further amends H.R. 1 with the text of H.R. 1401 and 
requests a conference with the Senate, that the Senate agree to the 
request and appoint the same conferees which the Senate has already 
appointed to H.R. 1.
  Mr. KYL addressed the Chair.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, if the Senator could withhold.

[[Page 18985]]

  I withdraw the unanimous consent request.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The unanimous consent request is 
withdrawn.
  Mr. REID. I apologize to my friend. It was the wrong unanimous 
consent request.
  I note the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President we had a shuffling of unanimous consent 
requests, and obviously the wrong one was shuffled to me. I apologize 
for holding up my friends.

                          ____________________