[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 4251-4252]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   5TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR IN IRAQ

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, next week marks the 5-year anniversary 
of the war in Iraq. Although Saddam Hussein's brutal authoritarian 
regime no longer exists, the war has been nothing less than a disaster 
for that country, for others in the region, and unquestionably for our 
own, as well.
  Four million Iraqis are displaced from their homes and Iraq's 
profoundly weak central government cannot provide its citizens with 
sufficient basic services like food, water, and electricity or protect 
them from savage violence, disappearances, or kidnappings. Tensions 
continue to rise throughout the Middle East and, as the war triggers 
internal unrest in many countries, it has caused our own credibility to 
decrease significantly.
  The war continues to undermine our top national security priority--
the fight against al-Qaida, which has strengthened itself in Pakistan 
and reached out to new affiliates around the world. According to the 
Congressional Research Service, the war costs us over $10 billion a 
month in direct costs. The war saps our military, which is stretched 
too thin to keep us safe here at home. In short, the war is making us 
weaker, not stronger, and that trend is not likely to change.
  America continues to be mired in a conflict that has no end in sight. 
As of the beginning of this week a total of 3,974 American soldiers had 
been killed and 29,320 wounded. While the administration touts a recent 
decline in violence as an indication that the surge is ``working,'' 
there is little political progress that might indicate the decrease in 
violence will result in genuine national reconciliation. As the region 
remains particularly fragile and our international credibility 
profoundly damaged, Americans ask each other just how many more 
billions of

[[Page 4252]]

dollars will be spent and how many more of our brave troops will die or 
be injured while we wait for national reconciliation in Iraq--which is 
the only way to end the violence.
  Just 2 weeks ago, many of my Republican colleagues stood on the 
Senate floor to sing their praises of the surge, but now we may be 
witnessing a reemergence of the brutal violence that was said to have 
dissipated. Early last week, 2 car bombs exploded, killing 24 people 
and wounding 56, while later in the week 2 bombs exploded in downtown 
Baghdad, killing nearly 70 people and wounding over 120. Yesterday a 
suicide bomber approached five American soldiers in Baghdad and 
detonated a bomb--killing all five soldiers and injuring three more. 
This attack has been labeled the worst attack on U.S. forces in months 
and it comes only days after a female suicide bomber blew herself up in 
the home of a Sunni leader who was reported to have been working in 
collaboration with U.S. forces.
  Similarly, another political impasse in Parliament may result in 
little tangible results from recently passed and supposedly key 
legislation. Yes, a de-baathification law has passed but it may usher 
in renewed sectarian tensions as former officials from Hussein's regime 
try to reclaim their old jobs. A provincial powers election law was 
sent back to the Parliament by the President's Council--requiring 
another round of drafting before it is able to move forward. As we well 
know, working on a law and even passing it is one thing--seeing it 
successfully implemented is another.
  National reconciliation still looks far off. The passage of what the 
administration is calling ``benchmark'' laws does not ensure society-
wide sectarian reconciliation; in fact, there are significant concerns 
about how the local efforts we have supported to bring about this 
decline in violence will be integrated into the national framework. The 
Sunni Awakening has taken tens of thousands of former-insurgent Sunni 
militia fighters and it is unclear to what extent we can rely on their 
loyalties. It is not hard to see, however, that this policy risks 
increasing distrust between the local Sunnis and national government, 
which is led predominately by Shi'ites.
  Without a legitimate political settlement at the national level, any 
decline in violence in Iraq is likely to be tenuous. Recent news from 
Iraq seems to indicate that any gains in security are already slipping 
and without a strategy for safe redeployment, it is inevitably our 
brave men and women who will pay the price.
  The war in Iraq drags on while al-Qaida has reconstituted and 
strengthened itself. The Director of National Intelligence, DNI, 
recently testified before Congress that al-Qaida's central leadership 
based in the border area of Pakistan is its most dangerous component. 
And just a few months ago, the DNI again repeated the Intelligence 
Community's assessment that, over the last 2 years, ``[al] Qaida's 
central leadership has been able to regenerate the core operational 
capabilities needed to conduct attacks in the Homeland.''
  Let me remind my colleagues, that it was from Afghanistan, not Iraq, 
that the 9/11 attacks were planned and it was under the Taliban 
regime--which is once again gaining ground--that al-Qaida was able to 
flourish so freely. With a recent report warning that we are not 
winning in Afghanistan, we need to rethink our current Iraq-based 
strategy so we can counter the threat posed by al Qaida around the 
world.
  As we approach the 5th anniversary of the US-led invasion in Iraq, it 
is clear that continuing the current open-ended military policy doesn't 
make sense. The American people certainly know that this war doesn't 
make sense and they expect us to do everything in our power to end it. 
We in Congress cannot in good conscience put Iraq on the backburner, 
and we cannot turn a blind eye or feign helplessness as the 
administration keeps pursuing its misguided policies.
  This Congress has no greater priority than making right the mistake 
it made over five years ago when it authorized the war in Iraq. I do 
not want the American people to lose faith in their elected leaders for 
pursuing a war that they rightly oppose. I do not want to watch a 
failed strategy perpetuate regional turmoil any longer and I do not 
want any more American troops to die or get injured for a war that is 
not in our national security interest.

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