Congressman Sandy Levin

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For Immediate Release
June 16, 2006
 
 
LEVIN STATEMENT ON IRAQ RESOLUTION
 

(Washington D.C.)- U.S. Representative Sander Levin (D-Royal Oak) today made the following statement in opposition to House Resolution 861, which declared that "the United States is committed to the completion of the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure, and united Iraq."

Rep. Levin's remarks are below:

 

 

Mr. Speaker,

 

The rationale for the Bush Administration's going to war in Iraq has been one of shifting sands.

 

The first reason given for the action in Iraq was that it was necessary because Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, which turned out to be wrong.  Then the rationale was the threat of nuclear weapons from Iraq's alleged purchase of uranium from Africa, which also was not true and was seriously questioned within the Bush Administration before the military action. 

 

Then it was said that there was a linkage between the Iraqi regime and the perpetrators of 9/11, a claim that has never been found to be true.  The evidence is that al Qaeda did not have a presence in Iraq until after the President ordered military action in Iraq. 

 

The Republicans try to paint Democratic opposition to the Administration's Iraq policies as a reflection of refusal to use force.  That is absolutely not true.  It is a question of under what conditions and circumstances.  That was at the heart of the debate over Iraq before the action was taken.                                                                                      

 

In 2002, a majority of Democrats voted for an alternative resolution allowing the President to undertake military force in Iraq, but only after first attempting a multi-lateral approach to dealing with Saddam Hussein through the Security Council, just as the first President Bush did in 1991.  What Democrats rejected was implementation of an approach emphasizing the use of unilateral, pre-emptive military action by the U.S.

 

That approach has had a number of consequences: terminating inspections before the inspectors could fully disclose that there were no WMD; the twisting of truth about the lack of an Iraqi program of developing nuclear weapons and the lack of a connection between the Iraqi government and 9/11; a belief that military action would not only be easy to begin with, but would lead to rapid development of a democracy in Iraq; inadequate equipment to safeguard our troops from the dire consequences of guerilla and radical insurgent attacks; and a vast and deep distrust of our nation among peoples of the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere. 

 

The situation in Iraq is not getting better.  It's getting worse.  As of today, 2500 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq.  Nearly 18,000 of our soldiers have been wounded.  Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died.  Iraq is teetering on the brink of a full-fledged civil war.  Sectarian killings have risen rapidly. 

 

This resolution represents a seal of approval of the Bush Administration's approach to Iraq.  I oppose it.  It is essential that we change the course, not simply stay the course, and adopt policies that heighten the pressure to bring about that change and accelerate the reduction of American military involvement in Iraq.

 

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