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Armed Services

Armed Services

Like many members of Congress, I have visited our men and women in uniform in Iraq. I have visited our wounded at the hospital at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, the hospital in Balad Air Base in Iraq, and those at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I have offered my condolences to grieving families who have lost loved ones in Iraq.  I respect and appreciate all of them. They have served nobly, and they deserve our praise and our prayers.

I disagreed with the decision to invade Iraq at the time.  When the Bush Administration and their supporters in Congress gloated over the initial success of our military, I cautioned that establishing a government that Iraqis would accept as legitimate, not an American puppet, would be much more difficult than defeating the Iraqi military.  I said then that I hoped my concerns proved unfounded.  That hope was disappointed.

The recent escalation of American military forces in Baghdad has coincided with a decrease in sectarian violence.  It is difficult to know if the two are related.  Previously mixed neighborhoods have been ethnically “cleansed,” and the sectarian composition of Baghdad has changed from predominantly Sunni to predominantly Shiite.  Other regions of Iraq, notably Basra, have had more pronounced decreases in violence that coincided with the withdrawal of Western military forces.

More important, the purpose of the escalation of force in Iraq, the “surge,” has not been accomplished.  The escalation was intended to provide “breathing room” so that the Iraqi government would negotiate an accommodation of the divisions in Iraqi society.  The Iraqi government appears to be as far from achieving such an accommodation as ever, if not further.  The participants in the Iraqi government appear to have used the respite from the worst violence to advance the interests of their faction, not to seek a fair accommodation among all factions.  Iraqi sects apparently remain locked in a civil war.  The various factions welcome American military support in their fight with other factions, but none appear sincerely to embrace our stated goals in Iraq.

Last Spring I voted to provide additional funding for military operations in Iraq conditioned on a timeline for the withdrawal of our military forces.  When the President vetoed that legislation, I voted to override the veto, but the vote to override the veto failed.  I then voted against funding for military operations in Iraq with no real strings attached.  On December 19, 2007, I again voted against funding for military options in Iraq with even fewer strings attached, but my vote was in the minority and the appropriation was approved.  I intend to continue to vote against unconditional funding for military operations in Iraq, and to vote for efforts to force a different strategy and a timeline to withdraw our troops.

While I disagree with the policy that places our military in harm’s way in Iraq, I have nothing but respect and admiration for those men and women and for their service.  I have voted at every opportunity to provide those men and women the needed equipment to help avoid injury and death, including body armor and vehicles that will withstand the explosions of roadside bombs.  And I have voted to provide the benefits we promised our veterans, including decent care for injury to their bodies and minds.

The men and women in our military are doing their duty.  My duty, as a citizen and as a Member of Congress, is to look with clear eyes at the facts and to exercise tough, independent judgment.  I will continue to do my best to do my duty.