President Bush's Speech

PRESIDENT BUSH'S SPEECH -- (Senate - June 29, 2005)

Mr. DURBIN. Last night, President Bush stood in front of the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne and the members of the Special Forces and gave an important speech. Thankfully, he did not profess the unfounded optimism of Vice President CHENEY, who recently declared that the Iraqi insurgency was in ``its last throes.'' Nor did he express the pessimistic view of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who said this last Sunday that this insurgency had an expected life of 5 to 12 years, adding he hoped the American troops could come home long before that.

In fact, Mr. Bush did not use the word ``insurgency,'' although that is what is raging in Iraq. That insurgency is partially fueled and financed from outside groups. Those who come to Iraq to fight in this insurgency come from Saudi Arabia, Syria, and many other places. There is also a domestic war within Iraq against Americans and against many other Iraqis.

President Bush did not use the word ``insurgency,'' but he did make at least six references to September 11. He said that he was drawing on the lessons of September 11. Well, on September 12, 2001, the day after the tragedy of September 11, virtually the whole world stood with the United States. One of the most important lessons I would draw from September 11 is that we can't afford to waste the support of friends and allies.

President Bush says he will not set a timetable. I understand that. I recognize the danger of posting a date and announcing that on that specific day, America will leave. But the fact is, the Iraqi people have their own timetable which they established. By August 15 of this year, they are charged with drawing up a constitution. By next February, they are to have adopted that constitution. These are clear deadlines, clear benchmarks. We do not need a timetable for withdrawal, but America needs a strategy for success with clear benchmarks.

The President announced nothing new last night. He repeated what he said before about the ultimate goal in Iraq of establishing democracy and bringing our troops home. He did not give any sign that he sees a need to change course.

In Iraq, 1,744 American soldiers have died in combat. Almost 13,000 have been grievously wounded. The insurgency continues. Insurgents are now using more sophisticated roadside bombs that can even pierce our armored vehicles. Our troops have done everything we have asked of them, but for each insurgent they kill, another seems to spring up, either from the cities and towns of Iraq or slipping across the porous border. For every IED that our soldiers detect and destroy, another one seems to be planted in its place, sometimes within hours.

There is an estimate that in Iraq today, unguarded, there are some 800,000 tons of ammunition and armament. It is a free market, a flea market, a bazaar of deadly weapons for insurgents and those who would use them against our troops. That is what our brave men and women are up against.

The streets are not safe for our troops. The streets are not safe for Iraqis. Without security, it is unlikely the Iraqis have much faith in a new government.

Unemployment levels in Iraq are as high as 50 percent. Without jobs, the Iraqis wonder what their future will be. More of the same is not good enough.

Our soldiers are doing everything right, everything that we ask of them. They are learning and adapting to the situation on the ground. Their Commander in Chief needs to do the same. We need benchmarks that will measure progress in security, reconstruction, governance, and international savings. And we need to ask ourselves, What do we do next if the benchmarks are not met?

Yesterday, a letter was sent by Senator CARL LEVIN and Senator SUSAN COLLINS to the President urging him to include in the speech an accountability of the Iraqi Government, saying that they must hold to their deadlines, they must understand that this is serious and that we are not going to stay there indefinitely. A New York Times editorial recently stated, ``If the war is going according to plan, someone needs to rethink the plan.'' I believe they are right.

Finally, we also need to take better care of our soldiers when they come home. We are going to have an amendment in a few moments offered by Senator PATTY MURRAY of Washington. Make no mistake, she has been our leader in the Senate when it comes to funding for the Veterans' Administration. Time and again in the Committee on the Budget, with the budget resolution and with the supplemental appropriations, she has made the argument that there wasn't enough money in the VA to take care of our returning soldiers and veterans from other wars. She has been ignored, rejected, and criticized for standing up and saying the obvious--that we have a debt to our soldiers and our veterans.

Last week, Senator Murray was vindicated. The Veterans' Administration announced they made a gross miscalculation and were at least $1 billion short in the money they need right now to provide quality health care to our soldiers and veterans.

Senator Murray has fought the good fight, and she will win that fight today. In fact, it is going to be interesting to see many from the other side of the aisle who were critical of her call for more money for the VA rushing to provide even greater sums so they can argue that they are on the side of the VA and the veterans.

This is the way it should end. This debate should end with Senator Murray's leadership creating a bipartisan coalition for the Veterans' Administration. This should have been a bipartisan issue from the start. She was a lonely voice and faced a lot of criticism for a long time. Today, she will be vindicated. More importantly, the veterans will receive the quality health care which they deserve. That means the newly returning veterans of Fallujah and Baghdad, many suffering terrible wounds in battle and some facing invisible wounds of post-traumatic stress disorder, will have a chance for the kind of treatment they deserve at the Veterans' Administration.

The administration, when it comes to the Veterans' Administration as well as waging the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, has not anticipated the real costs of war. We can do better. We owe these men and women who are fighting these battles and those who have fought in past wars not only our thoughts and prayers, we owe them our resources so they can wage this war successfully, come home safely, and return to their families and their lives.

I yield the floor.

http://thomas.loc.gov/