Marty on the Issues
Social Security
Iraq Policy
Defending the Homeland
Economy and Jobs
Campaign Finance Reform
Health Care
Tobacco
Crime
Energy and Environment
Women's Issues
Human Rights
Northeast-Midwest Coalition
More Issues
|
Features
September 3,
2006:
Congressman Meehan joined CNN's Late Edition to discuss his
views on America's approach to Iran, the War on Terror, and the
untenable situation in Iraq. To watch a video clip of his
appearance, please choose one of the following options:
Part
I
Cable/DSL
(High Speed)
Cable/DSL
(Medium Speed)
56K
Modem (Low Speed)
Part
II
Cable/DSL
(High Speed)
Cable/DSL
(Medium Speed)
56K
Modem (Low Speed)
On September 12,
2006, Congressman Meehan responded to President Bush's speech on the
5th anniversary of 9/11. To watch a video clip of his remarks,
please choose one of the following options:
Cable/DSL
(High Speed)
Cable/DSL
(Medium Speed)
Meehan
speaks on the House Floor
On
June 15, 2006, Congressman Meehan delivered a speech on the
Floor of the House of Representatives during ten hours of
debate on the Iraq War calling for a change in America's
policy on Iraq. Click
here or on the picture above to watch this
speech.
April
3, 2006: Meehan Earns Perfect Score From Peace Action
Congressman
Meehan is one of only twenty-seven members of the House of
Representatives to earn a perfect rating from the Peace Action
Education Fund. Click
here for more information and to view the scorecard.
Watch Congressman
Meehan speak about Iraq from the floor of the House (requires
Windows Media Player).
56K
Modems Click Here: 9.8 MB
Broadband
Click Here: 73 MB
Read
the full text of the speech
Upon returning from a recent trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, Congressman Meehan
released a white paper outlining his plan for a U.S. victory strategy in
Iraq. The paper, "Iraq: Light at the End of the Tunnel,"
details Meehan's proposal for a phased drawdown of U.S. forces over the
next 12 to 18 months.
Click
here for the HTML Version of the white paper
Click here for
the PDF Version of the white paper
January 25, 2005: Washington, D.C.
In January, Congressman Meehan presented his proposal for a phased reduction
of U.S. troops from Iraq in a major foreign policy speech at the Brookings
Institution in Washington, DC.
Click
here for photos of the event
Click
here to read a transcript of the speech.
|
Meehan Position Statement on Iraq
As a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman
Marty Meehan has been a vocal critic of the Bush Administration's handling
of the war in Iraq. Since the onset of the conflict, Marty has advocated
bringing on additional allies for the security and reconstruction efforts
in Iraq. He has also been a leading critic of the Defense Department's
failure to provide our troops with the technology, equipment, and logistical
support they need to protect themselves.
Marty believes that the Administration's unwillingness to conduct diplomacy
and its poor planning of the post-war transition have been damaging to
U.S. foreign policy. The conduct of the war has not only damaged our credibility
around the world, but damaged our ability to wage an effective war on
terrorism.
Fighting terror ought to be the top national security priority of the
United States of America. Unfortunately, the war in Iraq has siphoned
precious resources out of the war on terror and into Iraq. Moreover, the
harm the Bush Administration's handling of the war has caused with our
allies and with potential allies in the war on terror has increased, not
decreased, threats to U.S. domestic security.
Marty has proposed an effective exit strategy from the quagmire in Iraq
that will allow U.S. troops to come home, lead Iraq down the path to stability
and democracy, and focus on the war on terror. The centerpiece of this
plan is to bring additional allies into the reconstruction efforts and
improve the training of Iraqi security forces to facilitate a withdrawal
of U.S. troops as quickly as possible.
Marty has also been deeply troubled by the damage done to our credibility
at the Abu Ghraib prison. He has taken a lead role in making sure that
those private contractors implicated in the atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison
are held accountable for their actions by writing the Contractor Accountability
Act and the Torture Accountability Act. The Contractor Accountability
Act closes loopholes in current law and ensure that outside contractors
are held accountable for any illegal actions they may commit while working
for the United States government. The Torture Accountability Act to expand
the application of anti-torture statutes abroad.
What happened at Abu Ghraib is the ugliest - but my no means the only
- symptom of an overall failure to manage the post-war reconstruction
of Iraq. Halliburton, for example, has received billions of dollars in
pork in no bid contracts while our troops have been left, in many cases,
to buy their own body armor and reinforce their vehicles with scrap metal.
This despite the fact that Halliburton has ties with state sponsors of
terrorism and has allegedly overcharged the American taxpayer by tens
of millions of dollars. Marty has supported open, competitive, and transparent
procedures for awarding contracts and voted to restrict the administration's
ability to award no-bid contracts. He has also written Attorney General
John Ashcroft urging him to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether
certain corporations are violating U.S. law by conducting business with
state sponsors of terrorism.
International Effort
From the outset of the conflict, Marty called on the Bush Administration
to reject the unilateral use of force in Iraq. In the days leading up
to the war, he wrote a letter to the President arguing that "it would
be disastrous to our long-term national security interests if we take
unilateral military action against Iraq" and that "a broad-based
international coalition is essential to the long-term success of our vital
interests in the region."
Marty continues to be a leading proponent of internationalizing the reconstruction
and stability operations in Iraq. Within a week of the commencement of
hostilities, he wrote to the President urging him to use the new opportunity
to engage the United Nations for post-Iraq reconstruction both to "effectively
work toward consensus in the region" and to "bridge rifts in
our international relationships." This requires the Bush Administration
to empower the United Nations to oversee the reconstruction of infrastructure
and Iraqi elections. He is hopeful that the long overdue Security Council
Resolution passed this June will give the United Nations and its Special
Envoy to Iraq the authority they need to take over the reconstruction
of Iraq.
Marty strongly supports handing over military and security operations
to the Iraqis as soon as they are adequately trained. This includes advocating
ramped up efforts to train the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, police, and
other security forces. It also includes turning over control of military
operations to a true coalition, such as NATO.
Giving Our Troops What They Need
Marty has been outraged by the failure of the Defense Department to provide
for the personal safety of our men and women in the Armed Forces. Marty
worked in the House of Representatives to urge the Administration to provide
sufficient body armor for every soldier, many of whom spent up to $2,000
out of their own paychecks to provide necessary armor that the Pentagon
failed to provide. In May he secured $1.6 billion to provide necessary
armor for Humvees and purchase interceptor body armor for unprotected
soldiers.
There are also concerns about the length of time our troops have been
deployed to Iraq and the burdensome strains placed on our reserve forces.
For example, the 94th Military Police Company based out of Londonderry,
New Hampshire has been activated for 2 ½ of the past four years and had
their deployment extended twice. The shortage of troops is a result of
this administration's inability to convince our allies to contribute to
the effort in Iraq and their refusal to deploy additional forces to the
region. Marty has called for a more reasonable rotation schedule for Reservists
to give troops more advanced notification and a concrete deployment length
so they can spend less time away from their families.
The Road From Here
Marty's top priority is to implement an effective exit strategy by treating
our allies as equals and negotiating their full participation in the operation
in Iraq. If the United States worked more cooperatively with our allies
could obtain commitments for 50,000 troops from outside the United States
- twice the current number. This would increase the number of allied troops
in Iraq to 200,000, the amount that General Eric Shinseki, the former
Army Chief of Staff, predicted would be necessary to stabilize Iraq.
Looking to the future, the reconstruction of Iraq is extremely important.
Our exit can only occur when Iraq is ready to exist as an autonomous entity.
To this end, we need an extensive training campaign to prepare an independent
Iraqi military and security force. The United Nations and NATO must play
a leading role in Iraq's future after the conflict ends and should immediately
be given more involvement in the troubled state.
|