Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2007 - Continued

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007--Continued -- (Senate - September 06, 2006)

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Senate is debating a resolution that simply asks the question: Could the Bush administration be doing things better in Iraq, the global war on terror, and with homeland security?

I know we can do better. I know we need to change course if we want to be more secure. We can do better than sending our troops into war without the armor and equipment they need. We can do better than misleading the American people about the costs of this war. We can do better than completely misreading the insurgency, which the Vice President told us over a year ago was in its last throes. We can do better than a policy that leaves our troops without a clear mission and without a plan for success.

Our servicemembers deserve better. Frankly, our security demands better. It starts with this Senate simply saying we need to change the course. We cannot tolerate more of the same. We cannot have an administration that has gotten it wrong at every turn. It is time to send that message loudly and clearly.

We all want the same thing in Iraq: for our troops to complete their mission successfully and to come home safely. But today it is not even clear why our servicemembers are still there. What are they supposed to be accomplishing in Iraq today? Overthrowing Saddam Hussein? They accomplished that. Looking for weapons of mass destruction? They looked and there were no weapons to be found. Are they supposed to be setting up an Iraqi Government? We have done that. The Iraqi people have created a Constitution. They have elected their leaders. They filled their Cabinet. Our troops have done everything we have asked them to do. What is left? What are our troops supposed to be accomplishing today? And how will the President's policies get us there? That is the discussion we need to be having.

This administration's focus--solely on Iraq--has distracted us from the larger important war on terror and has left us vulnerable. Our country faces possible threats from terrorists around the world. We need a security strategy that ensures we can fight those threats wherever they are. But, instead, this administration has become increasingly focused on Iraq. The President took a detour from the war on terror and has invested a majority of our resources in Iraq, seemingly forever. That weakens our ability to fight the important war on terror. That is another mistake.

Bin Laden is still on the loose and our homeland security efforts are woefully inadequate. This resolution sends the message that we have to get back on track on the war on terror. We cannot continue to stay the course in Iraq indefinitely and expect to make progress in the global war on terror.

The war on terror extends far beyond the borders of Iraq, and unless we deal with all the threats we are facing, we are not going to have the security we deserve in this country. But this White House has put all our eggs in the baskets of Iraq, and we are slipping behind all the other challenges we face in Iran, in North Korea, in Afghanistan.

Yesterday, the New York Times showed us how bad things have gotten in Afghanistan. And I quote:

Across Afghanistan, roadside bomb attacks are up by 30 percent; suicide bombings have doubled. Statistically it is now nearly as dangerous to serve as an American soldier in Afghanistan as it is in Iraq.

Today the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in my home State of Washington editorialized that we need to get back to work in Afghanistan. And I want to read to you what they said:

The central government's control is weakening as warlords and the Taliban reassert themselves. Casualties for international troops are mounting, making Afghanistan almost as risky for U.S. soldiers as Iraq. Opium production is at a record. The head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said Afghanistan is now supplying a ``staggering'' 92 percent of the world's opium supply.

We entered Afghanistan because it had harbored al-Qaida and bin Laden--who are responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, which killed nearly 3,000 Americans. We still have not captured bin Laden, and the Taliban is reemerging in Afghanistan.

Iraq is not the only challenge we face, and if we do not recognize that, Americans will pay the price.

This administration has gotten it wrong in Iraq, the war on terror, and on homeland security time and again. Continuing the status quo is unacceptable, and that is the message I send with my support for this resolution.

The American people deserve straight answers and a real debate so we can get this right. Nothing is more important for our security, and nothing is more important for this country's future.

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