“A Bipartisan Path Forward In Iraq”
The war in Iraq is the greatest challenge facing our country. Unfortunately, the political debate in Washington has not been conducive to finding a solution, as political divisions have hardened during the past year.
Vitriolic rhetoric and veto threats do not help us pursue a new direction. I believe the way forward must be a bipartisan approach that puts the interests of our country, and of the brave men and women of our armed forces, ahead of political gain. Our nation needs to forge a new bipartisan strategy that will redefine the mission and set the stage for a significant but responsible withdrawal of our troops over the next year.
Fortunately, we do not have to search far and wide to find this new policy. It is already mapped out for us in the unanimous recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. This group was chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton. Its members included distinguished Americans from both parties who worked hard to forge a unanimous, bipartisan consensus on the road ahead in Iraq.
Their recommendations chart the path forward and remain as viable today as when they were first released last December. The Iraq Study Group report lays out three core principles. First, it calls for a fundamental change in the mission of our military forces in Iraq, away from combat operations, and instead limited to training and equipping the Iraqi security forces, conducting counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, and securing Iraq's borders.
Shifting the mission of our troops would require the Iraqi military and police to take responsibility for security for their country. This would allow tens of thousands of our troops to start coming home, and would demonstrate that our military commitment to Iraq is neither open-ended nor unconditional.
Second, the report recommends that American support for the Iraqi government should be conditioned on its leaders making progress in meeting specific benchmarks, including the political reforms necessary to quell sectarian violence.
Recently, the President released an assessment report called for in bipartisan legislation that I coauthored with Senators John Warner and Ben Nelson. This report verified that the Iraqis have made very little progress toward the most important political benchmarks, such as adopting the reforms to equitably distribute oil revenues and to more fully integrate the Sunni minority into governmental power structures.
Our troops have paid a heavy price for this lack of progress. In fact, American troops suffered more casualties during the past three months than at any time during this war. Requiring the Iraqis to make real progress on the political reforms is absolutely essential.
Third, the Iraq Study Group urges our government to launch a new diplomatic effort in the region. Both the international community and Iraq's neighbors are clearly not doing enough to foster its stability, and the United States has placed too much emphasis on military actions at the expense of diplomacy.
Last December, shortly before the Iraq Study Group report was released, I made my third and most recent visit to Iraq. Based on what I saw, I concluded that a new direction in Iraq was needed and that it would be a mistake to send additional troops to Baghdad, to place them in the midst of a sectarian struggle, indeed, a civil war. The solution was political, not military.
I also concluded that we should be moving our troops out of Baghdad and instead concentrating their efforts in Anbar Province, where the violence is not primarily sectarian, and where the local population was starting to support our efforts and joining in the fight against al-Qaeda. Thus, my first-hand experience in Iraq meshes with the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group: our redefined mission must focus on counterterrorism operations, securing Iraq's borders and training the Iraqi security forces.
During the Senate’s recent debate on the Defense Authorization bill, I joined a bipartisan group of 14 Senators in calling for the adoption of the Iraq Study Group’s informed and unanimous recommendations as our new strategy in Iraq. It is a strategy that lays the groundwork for responsible, realistic redeployment of American combat troops and emphasizes the need for more diplomacy. It charts a new course that allows us to move past partisan politics. As Iraq Study Group co-Chairman Lee Hamilton said about our amendment, “It provides a bipartisan way forward on a problem that cannot be solved unless we come together to address this singular national challenge.”
It is a course we must take without delay. That is why I also have offered an amendment with Senator Nelson that would require the President to immediately transition to this new strategy. Not in 120 days, not next year, not after September, but immediately. There are so many people in Congress and throughout the country who see the need for a new strategy in Iraq, and that new strategy is at hand.
Our troops have performed magnificently; their courage, commitment, and sacrifice make us all proud. But, despite their heroic efforts, the war in Iraq has been one lost opportunity after another by the President, the Congress, and the Iraqi government. The immediate implementation of the strategy developed by the Iraq Study Group is our opportunity to change direction in a responsible, bipartisan way, and it is one we must not lose.
Vitriolic rhetoric and veto threats do not help us pursue a new direction. I believe the way forward must be a bipartisan approach that puts the interests of our country, and of the brave men and women of our armed forces, ahead of political gain. Our nation needs to forge a new bipartisan strategy that will redefine the mission and set the stage for a significant but responsible withdrawal of our troops over the next year.
Fortunately, we do not have to search far and wide to find this new policy. It is already mapped out for us in the unanimous recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. This group was chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton. Its members included distinguished Americans from both parties who worked hard to forge a unanimous, bipartisan consensus on the road ahead in Iraq.
Their recommendations chart the path forward and remain as viable today as when they were first released last December. The Iraq Study Group report lays out three core principles. First, it calls for a fundamental change in the mission of our military forces in Iraq, away from combat operations, and instead limited to training and equipping the Iraqi security forces, conducting counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, and securing Iraq's borders.
Shifting the mission of our troops would require the Iraqi military and police to take responsibility for security for their country. This would allow tens of thousands of our troops to start coming home, and would demonstrate that our military commitment to Iraq is neither open-ended nor unconditional.
Second, the report recommends that American support for the Iraqi government should be conditioned on its leaders making progress in meeting specific benchmarks, including the political reforms necessary to quell sectarian violence.
Recently, the President released an assessment report called for in bipartisan legislation that I coauthored with Senators John Warner and Ben Nelson. This report verified that the Iraqis have made very little progress toward the most important political benchmarks, such as adopting the reforms to equitably distribute oil revenues and to more fully integrate the Sunni minority into governmental power structures.
Our troops have paid a heavy price for this lack of progress. In fact, American troops suffered more casualties during the past three months than at any time during this war. Requiring the Iraqis to make real progress on the political reforms is absolutely essential.
Third, the Iraq Study Group urges our government to launch a new diplomatic effort in the region. Both the international community and Iraq's neighbors are clearly not doing enough to foster its stability, and the United States has placed too much emphasis on military actions at the expense of diplomacy.
Last December, shortly before the Iraq Study Group report was released, I made my third and most recent visit to Iraq. Based on what I saw, I concluded that a new direction in Iraq was needed and that it would be a mistake to send additional troops to Baghdad, to place them in the midst of a sectarian struggle, indeed, a civil war. The solution was political, not military.
I also concluded that we should be moving our troops out of Baghdad and instead concentrating their efforts in Anbar Province, where the violence is not primarily sectarian, and where the local population was starting to support our efforts and joining in the fight against al-Qaeda. Thus, my first-hand experience in Iraq meshes with the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group: our redefined mission must focus on counterterrorism operations, securing Iraq's borders and training the Iraqi security forces.
During the Senate’s recent debate on the Defense Authorization bill, I joined a bipartisan group of 14 Senators in calling for the adoption of the Iraq Study Group’s informed and unanimous recommendations as our new strategy in Iraq. It is a strategy that lays the groundwork for responsible, realistic redeployment of American combat troops and emphasizes the need for more diplomacy. It charts a new course that allows us to move past partisan politics. As Iraq Study Group co-Chairman Lee Hamilton said about our amendment, “It provides a bipartisan way forward on a problem that cannot be solved unless we come together to address this singular national challenge.”
It is a course we must take without delay. That is why I also have offered an amendment with Senator Nelson that would require the President to immediately transition to this new strategy. Not in 120 days, not next year, not after September, but immediately. There are so many people in Congress and throughout the country who see the need for a new strategy in Iraq, and that new strategy is at hand.
Our troops have performed magnificently; their courage, commitment, and sacrifice make us all proud. But, despite their heroic efforts, the war in Iraq has been one lost opportunity after another by the President, the Congress, and the Iraqi government. The immediate implementation of the strategy developed by the Iraq Study Group is our opportunity to change direction in a responsible, bipartisan way, and it is one we must not lose.
