Senator Boxer on the war in Iraq

[Guest guest]

Senator Boxer on the war in Iraq

 

I thought you would be interested in my recent

floor speech on

the war in Iraq.

 

===================================================

 

December 20, 2005

 

In 1968, Martin Luther King told us: “If we do

not act, we

shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and

shameful

corridors of time reserved for those who possess

.... strength

without sight.”

 

Dr. King was talking about ending the Vietnam

War. But 40 years

later, his warning is increasingly relevant to

the Iraq war.

 

Strength without sight has now led us into a war

based on

mistaken intelligence, and down a thorny path of

pain for too

long.

 

And none of us can afford to be silent, because

as Martin

Luther King also said: “Our lives begin to end

the day we

become silent about things that matter.”

 

So we must have the courage to speak out about

things that

matter.

 

It matters that 2,158 servicemen and women have

given their

lives in Iraq, leaving their families grieving.

 

It matters that 16,155 have been wounded, many

with scars that

will last a lifetime.

 

It matters that the majority of the American

people are

demanding a new strategy so that we don’t have a

war without

end.

 

We saw seventy-nine Senators recently back an

amendment saying

that the Iraqis should take the lead in providing

their own

security next year. That matters too.

 

We heard Congressman Jack Murtha’s brave

statement against the

war, calling it a “flawed policy wrapped in

illusion.” He is a

decorated Marine, a war hero who bled on the

battlefield, the

military’s best friend.

 

And he now advocates redeploying U.S. forces at

the earliest

possible date, while maintaining a quick-reaction

U.S. force in

the region to be called upon if necessary.

 

So how did the Administration and its supporters

respond to his

thoughtful proposal? Congressman Murtha, with

his two Purple

Hearts and Bronze Star, was insulted by the White

House Press

Secretary and branded a coward by the newest

Republican in the

House. People who never bled on the battlefield

tried to

demean a war hero.

 

And that is what we see again and again. Instead

of thoughtful

dialogue about the life and death issues in Iraq,

the

Administration lashes out at those who dare to

disagree with

them.

 

Recently, the Republican National Committee

issued a video news

release attacking Democrats, including me. I’m

used to being

attacked, and I normally just ignore them. But

this one was so

incendiary that I have to respond.

 

The ad said Democrats were waving a white flag of

surrender.

And their evidence? My statement that we should

start reducing

our troop strength in Iraq after the Iraqi

election.

 

Well, guess who else said that last weekend? The

U.S.

Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalizad, appointed by

President

Bush. His words were, “we can begin to draw down

our forces in

the aftermath of the elections.” Are they going

to run an ad

against him now?

 

Democrats aren’t waving any white flags. We are

doing the jobs

we were elected to do. We have a right -- and a

responsibility

-- to tell the truth, whether the topic is Iraq

or any other

policy. We have a right -- and a responsibility

-- to wave a

warning flag about a war that is making our

nation less secure.

 

And so, regardless of how many times they attack

me, I will

continue to speak out, just as I am doing today.

I have four

points.

 

First: We must restore our credibility.

 

If we want the American people to be optimistic

and if we want

the nations of the world to consider us a leader

to be trusted,

our motives must be clear, our justifications

must be sound,

and our policies must reflect our ideals.

 

During the Cuban missile crisis, Secretary of

State Dean

Acheson offered to show Charles de Gaulle

satellite images of

Soviet missiles in Cuba as proof of their

existence. President

de Gaulle responded by saying, “the word of the

President of

the United States is good enough for me.”

 

Today, the word of this President and his

administration has

been called into question. Frankly, it is hard to

believe those

words any longer on Iraq.

 

Remember all of the false expectations that the

Bush

Administration peddled?

 

Remember when Secretary Rumsfeld said that the

war “could last

six days, six weeks. I doubt six months?”…Or

that we knew

exactly where to find the Weapons of Mass

Destruction?

 

Remember when Vice President Cheney predicted,

“…my belief is

we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators?”

 

Remember when White House Budget Director, Mitch

Daniels said

that Iraq will be “an affordable endeavor” and

reported that it

“will not require sustained aid?”

 

Remember when the case for Weapons of Mass

Destruction was

called a slam dunk?

 

Remember Vice President Cheney’s now-famous

assessment that the

insurgency was in its “last throes”?

 

Remember when the President told us about the

yellow cake from

Niger?

 

Remember when we were told “mission accomplished”

and that

Iraqi oil would pay for the war?

 

Remember when Secretary Rice said she didn’t want

the smoking

gun to be a mushroom cloud?

 

Remember Secretary Colin Powell’s forceful

presentation before

the United Nations Security Council…that he now

calls a blot on

his record?

 

That is 0 for 10.

 

Yet, even in light of all this history, the Bush

Administration

refuses to do more than a perfunctory mea culpa.

 

In his last speech, the President took

responsibility for going

to war on false intelligence. The President is

only two years

behind the American people, who figured this one

out long ago,

but I’ll take it. But he keeps repeating the

false statement

that Congress saw the same intelligence that he

did even though

a congressional report recently found that the

Administration

had access to more than they shared with us.

 

And he still doesn’t answer the central question:

Was the

intelligence cherry picked or manipulated to make

the case for

war?

 

Democrats are insisting that we complete the

Senate

investigation into this matter. And it’s not

about politics.

It’s because if the intelligence was cherry

picked or

manipulated, the American people deserve to know

and the

Congress will need to act.

 

And it’s because the next time we need to

convince the world of

an imminent threat, it will be far more difficult

unless we

clear the air and restore our credibility.

 

You know, America is more than an economic and

military power.

Our ideals have made us a shining light for those

around the

world seeking freedom, democracy and human

rights.

 

Now that moral standing is at risk.

 

We all saw the horrific photos of Abu Ghraib,

which were at

odds with everything this country stands for. We

all know that

torture does not produce accurate intelligence or

make us

safer. Instead, as Senator McCain says, “It’s

killing us.”

 

But, amazingly, banning torture was extremely

controversial for

this Administration. Dick Cheney even worked

non-stop to exempt

the CIA from the torture ban passed by the

Congress.

 

Fortunately we won this one, but we still don’t

know everything

about the secret prisons or secret spying on

Americans, all of

which chips away at our reputation as a great

beacon of freedom

and gives an eerie sense of a secret government.

And now we

face the issue of our government spying on

Americans without a

warrant. This is serious and must be

investigated to restore

our credibility.

 

Second and third, we must reverse the strain on

our military

and get our budget priorities straight.

 

This Administration says dissent hurts our

military. But what

really hurts our military is sending men and

women to war

without a plan and without the necessary armor

and equipment.

What really hurts our military is stretching it

to the breaking

point and deploying our soldiers for third and

fourth tours of

duty. What really hurts our military is a lack of

candor.

 

Our men and women in the military serve bravely

and skillfully

in Iraq. They have sacrificed so much since the

war began. We

need to honor their sacrifices not just with

words, but also

with actions. That means treating their caskets

and families

with the respect they deserve. And that means

opening our eyes

to their injuries, and getting them the help they

need.

 

Medical studies reveal that 17 percent of

soldiers returning

from Iraq are suffering from mental health

problems including

depression, anxiety and PTSD. The VA says that

17,000 Iraq and

Afghanistan vets have been diagnosed with mental

disorders

through February.

 

Despite this huge problem, the American Legion

says that mental

health programs are being under funded by $500

million a year.

I offered an amendment to provide these critical

resources by

canceling future tax cuts for millionaires.

Sounds reasonable,

right? Well, it failed. The President says he

loves our

military, but he loves tax cuts for millionaires

as much or

more.

 

Let’s be clear: To finance a war that has already

cost $251

billion, this Administration did not ask the

wealthiest in our

own country to sacrifice.

 

Under the Bush tax cuts, millionaires got $242

billion dollars

back over the past five years. In the first two

years of the

Iraq war, the average millionaire received

$112,000 in tax cuts.

 

And the President did not secure enough real

financial

commitments from other countries. Instead, our

needs our being

sacrificed and our children and senior citizens

are paying the

price.

 

Talk about waving a white flag of surrender? The

Republican

Congress and this administration are waving a

white flag over

our children, cutting their after school programs

by 1.3

billion from what this President and Congress

authorized. No

Child Left Behind was funded at 13.1 billion less

than what

their own legislation asked for.

 

They are waving a white flag of surrender over

our seniors,

causing them anxiety and threatening their social

security and

Medicare by using those trust funds to finance

the war and the

tax cuts.

 

They are waving a white flag over fiscal

responsibility by

creating a debt which is more than $8 trillion.

Of the total

debt held by the public, 45% is in foreign hands.

That means

that approximately $92 billion is leaving this

country every

year to pay off the interest to foreign entities.

 

And, they are waving a white flag over our

homeland security,

instead of making it a top priority. The

Administration says

all the right things in public, and then

shortchanges homeland

security at every turn.

 

It’s been four years since 9/11. Why are we still

dangerously

unprepared for another terrorist attack?

 

Why haven’t we provided the additional $555

million needed this

year to better secure our ports?

 

And, why in the world, haven’t we provided the

$14.3 billion

still needed to make sure that our firefighters,

police

officers, and health care providers can

communicate with each

other in a time of crisis, whether it is a

terrorist attack, a

hurricane, or an earthquake?

 

On December 5, the 9/11 Commission released a

report card on

the status of the recommendations it made a year

and a half

ago. It was full of Ds and Fs, and showed us

that we are

falling short, far short. This is unacceptable.

 

So we must help our military and get our

priorities right.

 

Fourth and finally, it is time to change course

in Iraq.

 

The President continues to present a false choice

between

leaving immediately and staying indefinitely.

 

He continues to just say “stay the course,”

despite evidence

that the war is making us less, not more, safe

from terrorism.

 

And he continues to begin almost every speech

about Iraq with a

reference to 9/11 even though the 9/11 Commission

and his own

Administration’s documents have been clear: There

was no link

between Iraq and 9/11 and no collaboration

between Saddam

Hussein and al Qaeda.

 

In fact, the war in Iraq was a diversion from the

war against

al Qaeda.

 

Like the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the

1980s, the war

in Iraq is helping al Qaeda recruit, radicalize,

and train a

new generation of terrorists.

 

According to National Memorial Institute for the

Prevention of

Terrorism, worldwide terror attacks increased by

more than

1,200 in the last year alone.

 

Even the President’s own Director of Central

Intelligence,

Porter Goss, says: “Those jihadists who survive

will leave Iraq

experienced in and focused on acts of urban

terrorism.”

 

I agree with the President about the importance

of spreading

democracy across the globe. But as Robert Pape

of the

University of Chicago has written, “…spreading

democracy at the

barrel of a gun in the Persian Gulf is not likely

to lead to a

lasting solution against suicide terrorism.”

 

Last week’s election in Iraq was an important

step forward. I

view each election as a landmark and I hope and

pray that this

one will result in a government that is able to

unite the

Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish people.

 

Early next year, Iraqis will have a choice to

amend the

Constitution to protect the interests of the

Sunni minority and

this will be another defining moment.

 

I also view each election in Iraq as a chance to

turn Iraq over

to its own people, who must ultimately chart

their own destiny.

Reducing our presence would be a sign of success,

not failure.

 

The fact is, as long as our presence is perceived

as

open-ended, there is little incentive for the

Iraqis to make

the necessary political compromises.

 

Indeed, if we want the Iraqis to move toward a

political

solution we must lessen their dependence on a

U.S. military

solution which almost everyone agrees is not the

answer.

 

Too many Iraqis believe that the United States

has no intention

of leaving Iraq. And with good reason. The Bush

Administration continues to answer all reasonable

requests for

timeframes or benchmarks with the same “as long

as it takes”

mantra.

 

This, despite the fact that General Casey made it

clear to me

earlier this year that our long term presence

would be

counter-productive. And this despite the fact

that two-thirds

of Iraqis oppose the presence of U.S. troops in

their country.

 

We must dispel the common and dangerous

perception that we are

occupiers and instead articulate a clear mission

for this Iraq

war, with an exit strategy based on real

political, military,

economic benchmarks.

 

How?

 

We need to accelerate efforts to train Iraqi

troops and reduce

our military footprint.

 

Second, the President must immediately declare

that the United

States has no desire to maintain permanent U.S.

military bases

in Iraq.

 

Third, the President must work more with Iraq’s

neighbors and

reduce our visibility in rebuilding Iraq’s

institutions. In

fact, we should have been doing this from the

beginning.

 

Last week, the Egyptian Ambassador lamented the

fact that so

few troops had been trained in his country,

saying: “We have

the capacity to train about 3,000 Iraqi troops in

Egypt each

month.” How in the world can we fail to take

advantage of

offers like this?

 

***

 

It doesn’t matter if you were for the war,

against the war, or

undecided. None of us can remain silent or on the

sidelines now.

 

As a Senator, I feel obligated to tell the people

of my state

how I feel. It’s time for a new policy. It’s

time for a new

strategy that makes us more safe and secure.

It’s time to put

to rest the notion that to speak out for a new

strategy in Iraq

is unpatriotic.

 

It’s time to realize that turning Iraq over to

the Iraqis is

what they expect and what we should do.

 

It’s time for a real strategy to stop the spread

of terrorism

and prevent the proliferation of WMDs -- not

preemptive wars

that isolate America from the rest of the world.

 

It’s time to remember that a strong America

begins at home, and

that we cannot have real security if we abandon

our children

and families, our fiscal responsibility or if we

cannot prepare

for a terrorist strike or an emergency like

Katrina.

 

It’s time for America to once again be a shining

example for

the rest of the world.

 

We can do it.

 

Again, let’s be honest about the past and restore

our

credibility. Let the Administration support

Congressional

inquiries and not fight them -- on the past use

of

intelligence; on the secret prisons in Europe; on

the secret

surveillance of Americans.

 

Two, let’s truly honor our military by

articulating a real plan

for success in Iraq and taking care of our

soldiers.

 

Three, let’s get our priorities straight and get

back on a

solid fiscal footing.

 

Fourth, let’s get Iraq right by working in a

bipartisan way --

not running ugly 30-second commercials while our

soldiers die

and get wounded.

 

We can do it. We can do better and with the

wisdom of the

American people, we will.

 

===================================================

 

If this message reached you in error, or if you

would like to

cancel your subscription, please reply to this

message with

“” in the subject line.

 

For more information on Senator Boxer's record

and other

information, please go to:

http://www.boxer.senate.gov

 

To respond to this message, please click on the

following link:

http://www.boxer.senate.gov/contact/feedback.cfm

.. This link

will take you to a webpage where you can respond

to messages

that you receive from Senator Boxer’s office.

 

 

 

 

" When the power of love becomes stronger than the love of power, we will have

peace. "

Jimi Hendrix