The War in Iraq
THE WAR IN IRAQ -- (Senate - July 24, 2006)
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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, will the Democratic leader yield for a question?
Mr. REID. I would be happy to yield to my friend.
Mr. DURBIN. Last year, we had bipartisan agreement on the Senate floor, and the agreement was that this year, the year 2006, would be a year of significant transition in Iraq.
We spelled out what we had in mind, that the Iraqis would take on more responsibility for their own fate and their own future, that the United States troops would be able to start withdrawing and coming home in this year of 2006. I ask the Democratic leader, as he joins with me each morning reading about how Iraq is descending into a civil war, the number of innocent civilians who are being killed in Iraq, and the number of American troops who continue to lose their lives in Iraq, when we voted for significant transition in Iraq, is this what we had in mind?
Mr. REID. I say to my friend, this was on a bipartisan vote. On a bill cosponsored by the two people who take care of our armed services, Senators Levin and Warner, 79 Senators voted for that, and the law of the country as we speak is that the year 2006 is to be a year of significant transition in Iraq, and the President, I believe, should follow that law and he is not doing that. I agree with my friend.
Mr. DURBIN. I ask the Senator from Nevada if he would yield for this question. Then this year when the Defense authorization bill came forward, is it not true that the Democratic side offered another amendment in an attempt to strike a bipartisan position on foreign policy in Iraq, an amendment which was sponsored by Senator Levin of Michigan, Senator Reed of Rhode Island, who is a graduate of West Point, served in the United States Army, and that this amendment which we offered to our friends on the Republican side to join us this year said we would start a transition this year before the end of the calendar year by redeploying American troops outside of Iraq? This amendment we offered had 39 of 45 Democratic Senators supporting it and no Republican support.
I would ask the Senator from Nevada, at the end of that Defense authorization bill, just a few weeks ago, was any position taken by the Republican side of the aisle that suggested any change in policy in Iraq?
Mr. REID. I say to my friend, that is what is so concerning to me, that they are following--they, the Republican Senators, are following President Bush, stay the course, stay the course in Iraq. It breaks my heart, frankly. Every day I get up. This is just one page of the paper. I went through the deaths--hundreds of them. I didn't read here, but in the past week 1,000 people in Iraq have moved out; they are afraid. They move out of their neighborhoods. We have probably now estimated 200,000 people in Iraq since the first of the year have had to move their homes. They have no place to go. They want to try to stay alive. The turmoil, the civil strife in that country, is unbelievable, and to think that this country's policy is to stay the course is not sensible.
Mr. DURBIN. Again, if the Senator from Nevada will yield, as you watch the disintegration of the foreign policy under this administration, we find ourselves relying on the Chinese to try to negotiate some peaceful resolution in North Korea, we are relying on the Russians to try to find some way to approach the Iranians on their nuclear power, but we have no one to turn to when it comes to Iraq. This was our own creation, with British help and some other countries, but primarily American soldiers and American resources. I would ask the Senator from Nevada, is his point on the floor today that the bipartisan Senate should not go home for the August recess without taking up this issue? We have spent weeks, the Republican leadership has spent weeks in the Senate on meaningless constitutional amendments and issues that bear little relevance to the daily lives of Americans, but the Senator from Nevada has to feel, as do I, we have an obligation to these soldiers and their families before we leave in August to have a meaningful debate on this floor about how to make certain that we end up in Iraq with our mission truly accomplished. I ask the Senator from Nevada, is that the purpose of his coming to the floor?
Mr. REID. First, my coming here is just as the Senator indicated. How can we, the Senate of our country, leave here with the raging civil war going on and our troops are right in the middle of it? How can we leave here without changing the course in Iraq? That is why I am here. It is a cry for help. We need our Republican colleagues to speak out. This blind allegiance to the President is not good for our country.
Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Senator from Nevada for yielding for the questions.
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