Feingold statement on an amendment calling for a timetable for Iraq

[Mass]

I noted it because of the names that are mentionned as leaders on Iraq (Levin, Dodd, Kerry, Kennedy, Byrd) and those that are not (particularly Biden).

I thought it is interesting and I hope these people and a few others come together and can make their case for a timetable on Iraq. Unfortunately, we know it will not pass the Senate, but it would at least be good to see that debated.

http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/statements/05/10/200510277.html

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Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
On the Department of Defense Authorization Bill

October 27, 2005

Mr. President, last night the Senate adopted a unanimous consent agreement to resume consideration of the Department of Defense authorization bill. Under the agreement, each side will be allowed to offer 12 amendments to the bill, all of which must relate to the bill or the jurisdiction of the Armed Services Committee.

Let me start by congratulating the Democratic Leader for working tirelessly to bring this bill back before the Senate. Sen. Reid recognizes that Congress has a responsibility to the American people, and to our brave men and women in uniform, to debate and pass a responsible DoD authorization bill. I thank him for his efforts.

Congress has an additional responsibility, Mr. President – to put our Iraq policy and our national security strategy right. The current Iraq policy, and particularly the failure of the Administration to offer a reasonable, flexible timetable for the remaining military mission, is making us weaker and less safe and our enemies stronger. The perception of a massive, indefinite American troop presence in Iraq is feeding the very insurgency we are trying to defeat.

That’s why I call upon the Majority and Minority Leaders to agree that they will allow the Senate to debate and vote upon an amendment calling for a flexible timetable for bringing our troops home. This doesn’t have to be the resolution I introduced in June, nor does it have to include the December 2006 target date for completion of the primary military mission that I proposed back in August. There are plenty of members deeply concerned about Iraq whose leadership has been and will continue to be crucial – people like Senator Levin, Senator Kerry, and Senator Dodd. Senators Byrd and Kennedy have also been vocal about their concerns. And there are plenty of members on the other side whom I’ve spoken with and who share some of my concerns about our Iraq policy. I welcome the opportunity to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come up with a reasonable amendment that will finally start the process of getting our Iraq policy – and our broader national security strategy – on track.

Mr. President, I don’t have to remind anyone here that the U.S. suffered its 2,000th casualty in Iraq this week. Every one of our servicemembers in Iraq, and their families, deserves clarity about the mission they are serving and the timeframe for that mission. And the American people – and the Iraqi people, too -- need to know that we have a plan to complete our military mission and draw down our troops in Iraq.

The Senate needs to do its job. When the Senate finally resumes consideration of the Defense bill, and I hope that will be very soon, we need to finally address and put right our Iraq policy. The Senate will consider up to twenty-four amendments at that time. Clearly this should be one of them. I hope my colleagues agree with me and we can work together to ensure that we live up to our responsibility.

On a sidenote, I have been trying to find why I have problems with cut and paste these last few days (weird characters inserted instead of accents) - Any idea?

[MH1]

1. Interesting...thanks for posting!

Re: weird characters. Try changing your browser encoding setting to Unicode (UTF-8). On Firefox that's View > Character encoding and click on Unicode (UTF-8).