National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007 -- (Senate - June 15, 2006)
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I read, as many did, in the newspapers this morning that the Prime Minister of Iraq has proposed giving amnesty to those incarcerated by the Iraqi Government who have killed or maimed Americans. It was stated that if Iraqis killed Iraqis they would not be given amnesty, but if Iraqis killed Americans, they would.
That is an outrageous statement. For the Prime Minister of Iraq to offer a ``get out of jail free'' card to those who have killed American soldiers is an insult to the soldiers, their families, and every American.
Just 2 days ago, the Prime Minister stood with President Bush, and President Bush said he looked in his eyes and saw that he was a good man. We are urging that President Bush call up the Prime Minister of Iraq immediately and get him to retract this pernicious, nasty statement which basically abdicates the great sacrifices that have been made by American soldiers for the people of Iraq.
It is just mind-boggling to believe that the Iraqi Prime Minister would decide that it would be OK to give amnesty to those who hurt Americans. What kind of ally is this? Will he turn on us in 2 months or 6 months? He seems to be the new hope of the new government, and within 24 hours after President Bush leaves Iraqi soil, he defames the sacrifices of American soldiers and their families.
President Bush, you should call your friend the Prime Minister and get him to retract this evil statement immediately. How can we ask America's young men and women to risk their lives in Iraq if those who seek to shoot at them are then absolved of any blame?
This is a statement which should really go down in infamy, and I hope and plead with the President to urge the Iraqi Prime Minister to withdraw the statement and figure out what consequences should follow if the Prime Minister refuses.
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, you can imagine the surprise, the consternation of so many who woke up this morning and read on the front page of the Washington Post that the Prime Minister of Iraq suggested he would grant amnesty to those who killed, maimed, hurt Americans. This was just appalling.
I rise in support of the resolution offered by my colleagues from Florida and New Jersey to, first, condemn those despicable remarks, and, second, to importune our President, President Bush, to make sure the Prime Minister of Iraq retracts those remarks and registers the strong disapproval of this Senate and of our Nation about what happened.
To give those who shot at, sometimes killed, often maimed Americans a get-out-of-jail-free card is nothing short of despicable and a slap in the face to all Americans. We have been told we are in Iraq for the noblest of purposes--to bring peace and democracy. When the head of state of that country says it is okay if you shot at American troops, it defies belief, it defies credibility.
The bottom line is our President stood with Prime Minister Maliki just a day or two ago and said he looked him in the eye and saw he was a good man. President Bush must have missed something. Clearly, no one can be a good man and state that it would be okay to give amnesty to those who shot at our soldiers.
This is something which calls into question the whole endeavor in Iraq. If this is the man we are relying on to get us out of the morass, to lead a government, and he is able to say that those who shot at our soldiers should be given amnesty while those who shot at Iraqis should not, something is dramatically wrong.
I will never forget when our President said he met President Putin, looked in his eye, and found he was a good man. Yet we have had trouble with President Putin ever since.
Something is desperately the matter. We need to do a few things. We need to pass this resolution immediately and register our condemnation of the remarks.
President Bush, America is asking you to demand a retraction from the Prime Minister of Iraq of these despicable words or America can no longer support sending soldiers to defend Iraqi freedom, to defend Iraqi peace. How can we, our soldiers, and their families go over to Iraq if, when they are shot at by renegade Iraqis, those Iraqis may be given amnesty and a pat on the back? That is despicable. It is so wrong.
I have spent time with families who have lost loved ones in Iraq. I have spent hours seeing our soldiers off to victory, watching as their families, their wives, their husbands, and their children, with tears in their eyes, watched them board the planes and the transports. For these families, while their beloved men and women are over there, to read that the Prime Minister of Iraq would grant amnesty to someone who tried to kill that soldier who is bravely serving, how would they feel?
President Bush must get on the phone, if he has not already, with the Iraqi Prime Minister and demand a retraction. If not, the American people, and particularly the soldiers and their families, deserve an explanation about what is going on over there. Again, to give a get-out-of-jail-free card to those who shoot at American soldiers while those soldiers are trying to defend freedom and peace in Iraq boggles the mind.
Another question: How can we rely on this man, this new Prime Minister Maliki, as an ally if he says this? My faith in him is shaken to the core. What will happen 2 months from now or 6 months from now?
This is a serious issue. I hope my colleagues will pay attention. It is serious because of the honor of our soldiers. It is serious because it casts doubt on the future of whatever plan there is in Iraq. It is serious mostly because it is an inhumane and nasty comment that negativizes all the sacrifices our people have made.
I hope our President will act. He has been silent today. There is no clarification. There is no discussion of a phone call. There is no expression of outrage from the White House. I hope that will change and change soon. If it doesn't, it has to call into doubt everything we are trying to do over there. This was not a happy day for what is going on in Iraq because of that awful newspaper story this morning and what it reported. I hope, I pray, things will change.
I certainly urge my colleagues to support unanimously the resolution offered by my colleague from Florida and my colleague from New Jersey, that I am proud to support, asking for that change.
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