THE ACTING PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE: The Senator from Michigan
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: Mr. President, I understand that the Senator from Arizona is now going to be making some remarks. I ask unanimous consent that after the Senator from Arizona finishes his remarks,
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: Senator Kennedy be recognized.
THE ACTING PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE: Is there objection?
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I will not object, I would ask Senator Levin, for the benefit of all, what our plans for the day are and what we can expect. I
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: understand that the Senate intends to stay in throughout the evening and debate this issue. I will not object, but I reserve the right to object. Perhaps the Senator from Michigan would illuminate me
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: and the other Members as to what we can expect throughout the day and the evening.
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: Well, I think on our side there will be many speeches supporting this amendment, and perhaps some opposing the amendment.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: We will be debating the Reed-Levin amendment throughout the day?
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: I hope so. And I hope people will want to speak, will come and speak on the amendment, because hopefully we can get to enough votes tomorrow so that we can actually have a vote on
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: Levin-Reed, that we can get to 60 votes, to achieve cloture. We would then be able to have a vote on the pending amendment. Other than that, we would be thwarted. There would be a procedural
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: roadblock in reaching a vote on Levin-Reed.
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: So that is the goal, if everyone is given a chance to speak on Levin-Reed, whatever side they are on, so that we can then, hopefully, end the debate on Levin-Reed and actually get to a vote on it.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Mr. President, I do not object, but I ask unanimous consent to engage in a colloquy with the Senator from Michigan about our plans for the day. For example, I understand there is a
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Cornyn amendment which may be voted on as well?
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: Senator from Michigan.
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: Mr. President, there is indeed, as I understand it, a consent which has been already reached that there be a vote on the Cornyn amendment at 2:45. There was an offer yesterday, as a
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: matter of fact, to, I believe, simply accept that amendment, but someone wanted to have a rollcall vote on it. That is their right.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: If I could ask my colleague further, I understand we also have well over 100 pending amendments on the bill as well. I would hope that at some point, Senator Levin and I can sit down
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: and maybe start sorting through those if we have any hope whatsoever of completing this bill.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: I would remind all of my colleagues that this body has passed--and has been signed into law--a Defense authorization bill for the last 45 years. There are aspects of this bill, as the Senator well
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: knows as the distinguished chairman, that we worked very hard on, such as pay raises and other authorizations for much needed equipment, training, et cetera. I would hope the Senator from Michigan
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: and I can start working on that aspect of the bill, if we have any hopes of passing an authorization bill this year.
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: If the Senator would yield, it is my fervent hope that we would have a bill this year and it is not only my intent to try to work out amendments, it has been our intent for many days
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: to work out those amendments. I understand there is some kind of a procedure that some Members on your side have insisted upon which has slowed down that process significantly. So our staffs and I,
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: and I know you, the Senator from Arizona, the ranking member on the committee, are more than ready to work out these amendments, as many as possible. Usually, we can work out as many as 100 on an
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: authorization bill. I think there are 190 amendments filed. We are up to the task. Our staffs are up to the task. We have to be allowed to proceed. I understand there is some kind of roadblock that
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: perhaps the Senator from Arizona could identify and help to remove.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Well, I thank Senator Levin. As I understand it, we will be debating the amendment of the chairman and the Senator from Rhode Island throughout the day and through tonight, and
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: perhaps a cloture vote sometime tomorrow. Is that your understanding?
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: I believe it is set for 1 hour after the Senate convenes.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: What is the parliamentary procedure, I would ask?
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: There is no order for the time for that yet, for the Senate to come in tomorrow. We have to await that.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: I thank Senator Levin.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: This is the second week, as we know, we are on this bill. We have not gotten to many of the amendments that have anything to do with other aspects of defending this Nation besides the issue of Iraq.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: I look forward to working with him as we can try to not break a 45-year custom here that we provide the much needed authorization for the men and women in our defense establishment and provide for
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: our Nation's security, which I think we all agree is our highest priority.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: So, if I may continue the colloquy for just one moment, I know that there are--now we will be beginning, and I will give a statement after the chairman, if it is his desire, and then we will have
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: speakers coming all day long on either side of this issue. I know many want to speak, and I hope they will be prepared to do so.
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: If the Senator would yield further, there was last week, we did accomplish a major achievement in terms of the wounded warrior legislation, which is now on this bill, and I believe, on
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: Friday, that there were speakers on the Iraq issue, on Levin-Reed and other amendments. There were yesterday as well. So the debate on the Iraq amendments has taken place, and it is now going to
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: continue today and into the night. Hopefully, we can get to a vote on Levin-Reed and not be thwarted by this 60-vote procedural roadblock.
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: And I, again, want to say something that has been the case before. We had a number of votes on Iraq in the last authorization bill, and those were 50-vote votes. There was not a threat of a
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: filibuster that deprived the Senate of voting on those amendments in the last authorization bill. For instance, there was a Levin-Reed amendment in the last authorization bill which I believe
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: received 39 or 40 votes. There was also a Kerry amendment on Iraq which was voted up or down without that procedural roadblock.
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: I would hope that on this bill, given the absolute importance of this issue and the expression of opinion of the American people last November about this issue, that we would be allowed to get to, be
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: allowed to vote up or down and to remove that 60-vote filibuster threat, the roadblock that has now been put in the way, and will determine tomorrow whether cloture will be invoked and that roadblock
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: can be removed. But the Senator is correct, there is ample opportunity for people to come down today to continue the debate on the Iraq amendment should they choose.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Finally, I want to thank Senator Levin for all the great work we have been able to do together and the wounded warrior legislation, which Senator Levin, under his leadership, we have
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: now adopted as part of the bill.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: There is another compelling argument, in my view, to complete the bill. If we are going to take care of our wounded veterans and we are going to take care of the men and women who have served, I
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: think it is a compelling argument that we get this legislation passed.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: And finally, we have been back and forth on this issue, and I do not like to get into the process and go back and forth. But 60 votes was not invented on this side, nor was it invented on the other
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: side. The 60-vote procedure has been employed by the minority in recent years in my view, all too often. But the fact is, to somehow say it was invented here on this side of the aisle obviously is
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: not the case. Many times, when the Democratic Party was in the minority in this body, I saw the 60 votes invoked, the procedure invoked, because it was felt, appropriately, because that is the way
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: the Senate works, as the criteria for moving forward because of the urgency or the importance of the pending legislation.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: So what's missing here, I would say to my friend from Michigan--and I think he agrees with me--is what we have seen is the erosion, over the past 20 years I have been here, of an ability to sit down
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: and discuss and agree and move forward. That is what is the missing ingredient here, and it has been missing for some years.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: I regret it. I regret it. I may be a little optimistic, but I think if it were only between the Senator from Michigan and me, we could dispose of most of these issues rather readily and establish a
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: procedure for moving forward. So we're now at the point--let's have some straight talk--that this entire bill is in jeopardy because of the imbroglio of the war in Iraq being added to an
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: authorization bill which was not intended to be a national security piece of legislation. It was intended to be a bill to authorize the necessary funding, training, and equipping of the men and women
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: in the military, and now has been added to it care for our wounded veterans. I regret the situation as it is, but that is the way it is. We will spend today debating this issue and discussing it. I
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: hope at some point we will realize the war is going to be going on. This bill, if it is passed with the Reed-Levin amendment on it, would be vetoed by the President of the United States. That would
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: be a bad thing to happen. The war will be discussed in September again--we all know that--when General Petraeus is ready to report to the United States Senate. So, at some point I would hope we could
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: move forward on the authorization bill and do the things that are necessary to help equip and train and ready the men and women serving in the military and preserving our national security.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: And again, I appreciate the efforts that the Senator from Michigan, distinguished chairman of the committee, is making in this direction.
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: I thank my friend and thank him for his willingness to always sit down and try to work things out. The roadblock here to our proceeding will be either kept in place or removed tomorrow
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: with the vote on whether to allow Levin-Reed to come to a vote. The Senator is right that there have been times when people have filibustered matters. There have been times when they have decided not
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: to. On the Iraq issue, on the last authorization bill, there were votes up or down without a 60-vote procedural roadblock being put in place to what was then the Levin-Reed and Kerry amendments. So
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: that is the precedent we established last year that I would hope the Republican leader would allow to be followed, because--one other comment--I can't think of a more appropriate place to be debating
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: Iraq policy, frankly, than on an authorization bill. Whether I am right or wrong, that is what happened last year. I hope it will again be followed this year.
LEVIN, SEN. CARL: I thank my good friend. My remarks will be coming this afternoon so Senator Kennedy will be following the Senator from Arizona.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: Without objection, the foregoing request to have the Senator from Massachusetts follow the Senator from Arizona is agreed to.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Mr. President, I oppose the amendment offered by the chairman and the Senator from Rhode Island. Let's be very clear what this amendment would do. It would mandate a withdrawal of
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: U.S. forces from Iraq. The debate that has taken place on this floor for some months now comes down to a simple choice. The sponsors of this amendment would have us legislate a withdrawal of U.S.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: combat forces from Iraq within 120 days of enactment, leaving in place only forces authorized to carry out specific, narrow missions. That is one choice, to force an end to the war in Iraq and accept
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: thereby all the terrible consequences that follow. The other is to defeat this amendment, to give General Petraeus and the troops under his command the time and support they have requested to carry
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: out their mission, to allow them to safeguard vital American interests and an Iraqi population at risk of genocide. That's the choice, Mr. President. Though politics and popular opinion may be
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: pushing us in one direction, to take the easy course, we, as elected leaders, have a greater responsibility. A measure of courage is required, not the great courage exhibited by the brave men and
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: women fighting today in Iraq and Afghanistan, but a smaller measure, the courage necessary to put our country's interests before every personal or political consideration.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: I'd like to spend a few moments reviewing the state of affairs in Iraq today. The final reinforcements needed to implement General Petraeus's new counter insurgency strategy arrived several weeks
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: ago. From what I saw and heard on my recent trips and from briefings and reports since then, I believe that our military, in cooperation with Iraqi security forces, is making progress in a number of
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: areas. The areas where they are operating have not suddenly become safe. They have not, but they do illustrate the progress that our military has achieved under General Petraeus's new strategy. The
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: most dramatic advances have been made in Anbar Province, a region that last year was widely believed to be lost to al-Qaida. After an offensive by U.S. and Iraqi troops cleaned al-Qaida fighters out
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: of Ramadi and other areas of western Anbar Province, the province's tribal sheikhs broke formally with the terrorists and joined the coalition side.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Ramadi, which just months ago stood as Iraq's most dangerous city, is now one of its safest. In February, attacks in Ramadi averaged between 30 and 35. Now many days see no attacks at all, no
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: gunfire, no IEDs, and no suicide bombings.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: In Fallujah, Iraqi police have established numerous stations and have divided the city into gated districts, leading to a decline in violence. Local intelligence tips have proliferated in the
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: province. Thousands of men are signing up for the police and the army, and the locals are taking the fight to al-Qaida. U.S. commanders in Anbar attest that all 18 major tribes in the province are
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: now on board with the security plan. They expect that a year from now, the Iraqi Army and police could have total control of security in Ramadi. At that point, they project, we could safely draw down
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: American forces in the area.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: The Anbar model is one that our military is attempting to replicate in other parts of Iraq with some real successes. A brigade of the 10th Mountain Division is operating in the areas south of
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Baghdad, the belts around the capital which have been havens for al-Qaida and other insurgents. All soldiers in I brigades are quote "living forward" and commanders report that local sheikhs are
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: increasingly siding with the coalition against al-Qaida, the main enemy in that area of operations.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Southeast of Baghdad the military is targeting al-Qaida in safe havens they maintain along the Tigris River, and Major General Rick Lynch, commander of operations there, recently reported that
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: attacks on civilians in his area of operations were down 20 percent since April and civilian deaths have declined by 55 percent. These and other efforts are part of Operation Phantom Thunder, a
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: military operation intended to stop insurgents present in the Baghdad belts from originating attacks in the capital itself.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: In Baghdad, the military, in cooperation with Iraqi security forces, continues to establish joint security stations and deploy throughout the city in order to get violence under control. These
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: efforts have produced positive results. Sectarian violence has fallen since January. The total number of car bombings and suicide attacks declined in May and June, and the number of locals coming
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: forward with intelligence tips has risen. Make no mistake: Violence in Baghdad remains at unacceptably high levels. Suicide bombers and other threats pose formidable challenges, and other
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: difficulties abound. Nevertheless, there appears to be overall movement in the right direction.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: North of Baghdad, Iraqi and American troops have surged into Diyala Province and are fighting to deny al-Qaida sanctuary in the city of Baquba. For the first time since the war began, Americans
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: showed up in force and did not quickly withdraw from the area. In response, locals have formed a new alliance with the coalition to counter al-Qaida. Diyala, which was the center of Abu Musab
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: al-Zarqawi's proposed quote " Islamic caliphate" finally has a chance to turn aside the forces of extremism.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: I offer these observations not in order to present a rosy scenario of the challenges we continue to face in Iraq. As the horrific bombing in Salah ad-Din Province illustrates so graphically, the
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: threats to Iraqi stability have not gone away, nor are they likely to go away in the near future. And our brave men and women in Iraq will continue to face great challenges. What I do believe,
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: however, is that while the mission to bring a degree of security to Iraq and Baghdad and its environs in particular, in order to establish the necessary precondition for political and economic
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: process, while that mission is still in its early stages, the progress our military has made should encourage all of us.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: It's also clear that the overall strategy General Petraeus has put into place, a traditional counter insurgency strategy that emphasizes protecting the population and gets our troops off of bases and
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: into the areas they are trying to protect, that this strategy, this strategy is the correct one.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Some of my colleagues argue we should return troops to forward operating bases and confine their activities to training in targeted counter terrorism operations. That is precisely what we did for 3 «
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: years, which I, time after time, said was doomed to failure. The situation in Iraq only got worse. I am, frankly, I'm frankly surprised that my colleagues would advocate a return to the failed
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Rumsfeld-Casey strategy. No one can be certain whether this new strategy, which remains in the early stages, can bring about ever greater stability. We can be sure, however, that should the United
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: States Senate seek to legislate an end to the strategy as it is just commencing, should we do that, should we do that, then we will fail for certain.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Now that the military effort in Iraq is showing some signs of progress, the space is opening for political progress. Yet rather than seizing the opportunity, the government of Prime Minister Maliki
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: is not functioning as it must. We see little evidence of reconciliation, and none of the 18 benchmarks has yet been met. Progress is not enough. We need to see results. And today. I am sorry to
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: report to you, the results are not there. The Iraqi Government can function. The question is whether it will. If there is to be hope of a sustainable end to the violence that so plagues that country,
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Iraqi political leaders must seize this opportunity. It will not come around again.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: To encourage political progress, I believe that we can find wisdom in several suggestions put forward recently by Henry Kissinger. An intensified negotiation among the Iraqi parties could limit
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: violence, promote reconciliation, and put the political system on a more stable footing. At the same time we should promote a dialog between the Iraqi Government and its Sunni Arab neighbors,
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: specifically Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, in order to build broader international acceptance for the Iraqi central Government in exchange for that Government meeting specific obligations with
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: respect to the protection and political participation of the Sunni minority. These countries should cease their efforts to handpick new Iraqi leaders and instead contribute to stabilizing Iraq, an
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: effort that would directly serve their national interests.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Finally, we should begin a broader effort to establish a basis for aid and even peacekeeping efforts by the international community key to political progress in Iraq. In taking such steps, we must
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: recognize that no lasting political settlement can grow out of a U.S. withdrawal. On the contrary, a withdrawal must grow out of a political solution, a solution made possible by the imposition of
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: security by coalition and Iraqi forces.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Secretary Kissinger is absolutely correct when he states that, and I quote "precipitate withdrawal would produce a disaster" and one that, quote, "would not end the war but shift it to other areas,
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: like Lebanon or Jordan or Saudi Arabia," produce greater violence among Iraqi factions, and embolden radical Islamists around the world.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Let us keep in the front of our minds the likely consequences of premature withdrawal from Iraq. Many of my colleagues would like to believe that should the withdrawal amendment we are currently
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: debating become law, it would mark the end of this long effort. They are wrong. Should the Congress force a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, it would mark a new beginning, the start of a new, more
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: dangerous, and more arduous effort to contain the forces unleashed by our disengagement.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: No matter where my colleagues came down in 2003 about the centrality of Iraq to the war on terror, there can simply be no debate that our efforts in Iraq today are critical to the wider struggle
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: against violent Islamic extremism. Already, the terrorists are emboldened, excited that America is talking about not winning in Iraq but is, rather, debating when we should lose. Last week, Ayman
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's deputy chief, said that the United States is merely delaying our inevitable defeat in Iraq and that the Mujahedin of Islam in Iraq of the caliphate and Jihad are advancing
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: with steady steps toward victory. He called on Muslims to travel to Iraq to fight Americans and appealed for Muslims to support the Islamic State in Iraq, a group established by al-Qaida.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: General Petraeus has called al-Qaida, quote :the principal short-term threat to Iraq." What do the supporters of this amendment believe to be the consequences of our leaving the battlefield with
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: al-Qaida in place? If we leave Iraq prematurely, jihadists around the world will interpret the withdrawal as their great victory against our great power. Their movement thrives in an atmosphere of
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: perceived victory. We saw this in the surge of men and money flowing to al-Qaida following the Soviet Union withdrawal from Afghanistan. If they defeat the United States in Iraq, they will believe
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: that anything is possible, that history is on their side, that they really can bring their terrible rule to lands the world over. Recall the plan laid out in a letter from Zawahiri to Abu Mus'ab
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: al-Zarqawi before his death. That plan is to take shape in four stages: Establish a caliphate in Iraq, extend the "jihad wave" to the secular countries neighboring Iraq, clash with Israel--none of
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: which will commence until the completion of stage one: Expel the Americans from Iraq. Mr. President, the terrorists are in this war to win it. The question is, Are we?
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: The supporters of this amendment respond that they do not, by any means, intend to cede the battlefield to al-Qaida. On the contrary, the legislation would allow U.S. forces, presumably holed up in
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: forward-operating bases, to carry out targeted counter terrorism operations. But our own military commanders say this approach will not succeed and that moving in with search and destroy missions to
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: kill and capture terrorists, only to immediately cede the territory to the enemy, is the failed strategy of the last 3 « years.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Major General Rick Lynch, who is directing a major part of the Baghdad offensive, said over the weekend that an early American withdrawal would clear the way for the enemy to come back to areas now
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: being cleared of insurgents. "When we go out there," he said, "the first question they ask is: `Are you staying?' And the second is: "How can we help?"' General Lynch added that should U.S. forces
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: pull back before the job is complete, we risk "an environment where the enemy could come back and fill the void."
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: On Monday, last Monday, Lieutenant General Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq said:
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: My assessment right now is I need more time. I'm seeing some progress now here in Iraq. We
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: have really just started what the Iraqis term "liberating" them from al-Qaida.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Withdrawing before there is a stable and legitimate Iraqi authority would turn Iraq into a failed State and a terrorist sanctuary in the heart of the Middle East. We have seen a failed State emerge
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: after U.S. disengagement once before, and it cost us terribly. In pre-9/11 Afghanistan, terrorists found sanctuary to train and plan attacks with impunity. We know that today there are terrorists in
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Iraq who are planning attacks against Americans. We cannot make this fatal mistake twice.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: As my friend, General Brent Scowcroft, has said recently, one of the men I respect more than most any in America, General Brent Scowcroft, quote:
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: "The costs of staying are visible. The costs of getting out are almost never discussed. If we get out before Iraq is stable, the entire Middle East region might start to resemble Iraq today. Getting
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: out is not a solution."
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Natan Sharansky has recently written, and I quote:
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces could lead to a bloodbath that would make the current
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: carnage pale by comparison.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Should we leave Iraq before there is a basic level of stability, we will invite further Iranian influence at a time when Iranian operatives are already moving weapons, training fighters, providing
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: resources, and helping plan operations to kill American soldiers and damage our efforts to bring stability to Iraq. Iran will comfortably step into the power vacuum left by a U.S. withdrawal, and
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: such an aggrandizement of fundamentalist power has great potential to spark greater Sunni-Shia conflicts across the region.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Leaving prematurely would induce Iraq's neighbors, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Egypt to Israel, Turkey and others, to feel their own security eroding and may well induce them to act in ways
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: that prompt wider instability. The potential for genocide, wider war, spiraling oil prices, and the perception of strategic American defeat is real, and no vote on this floor will change that.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Don't take my word for it. Consult, perhaps, the Iraq Study Group, which says, and I quote: A chaotic Iraq could provide a still stronger base of operations for terrorists who seek to act regionally
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: or even globally. Al-Qaida will portray any failure by the United States in Iraq as a significant victory that will be featured prominently as they recruit for their cause in the region and in the world.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: The report goes on to say that:
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: A premature American departure from Iraq would almost certainly produce greater sectarian violence and further deterioration of conditions. The near-term results would be a significant power vacuum,
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: greater human suffering, regional destabilization, and a threat to the global economy. Al-Qaida would depict our withdrawal as a historic victory.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Or perhaps ask the Iraqis. Brigadier General Qassim Attam, the chief Iraqi spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, said last Sunday that the Iraqi military and police force need more time before
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: they are capable of assuming control of the country's security.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Or maybe our intelligence agencies which in the January National Intelligence Estimate concluded: If coalition forces were withdrawn rapidly during the term of this estimate, we judge this almost
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: certainly would lead to a significant increase in the scale and scope of sectarian conflict in Iraq, intensify Sunni resistance to the Iraqi government, and have adverse consequences for national
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: reconciliation. The ISF would be unlikely to survive as a nonsectarian national institution; neighboring countries might intervene openly in the conflict; massive civilian casualties and forced
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: population displacement would be probable; AQI outside Iraq would attempt to use parts of the country to plan increased attacks in and out of Iraq, and spiraling violence and political disarray in
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Iraq, along with Kurdish moves to control Kirkuk and strengthen autonomy, could prompt Turkey to launch a military incursion.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: These are the likely consequences of a precipitous withdrawal. I hope the supporters of such a move will tell us what they believe to be the likely consequences of this course of action. Should their
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: amendment become law and U.S. troops begin withdrawing, do they believe that Iraq will become more or less stable? That al-Qaida will find it easier to gather, plan, and carry out attacks from Iraqi
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: soil or that our withdrawal will somehow make this less likely? That the Iraqi people become more or less safe? That genocide becomes a more remote possibility or ever likelier?
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Mr. President, this fight is about Iraq but not about Iraq alone. It is greater than that and, more important still, about whether America still has the political courage to fight for victory or
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: whether we will settle for defeat with all of the terrible things that accompany it. We cannot walk away gracefully from defeat in this war.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: How we leave Iraq is very very important. As the Iraq Study Group found: If we leave and Iraq descends into chaos, the long-range consequences could eventually require the United States to return.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: General Petraeus and his commanders believe that they have a strategy that can, over time, lead to success in Iraq. General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will come to Washington in September
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: to report on the status of their efforts and those of the Iraqis. They request just two things of us: the time necessary to see whether their efforts can succeed and the political courage to support
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: them in their work. I believe that we must give them both.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Right now, as we continue our debate on the war in Iraq, American soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen are fighting bravely and tenaciously in battles that are as dangerous, difficult, and
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: consequential as the great battles of our armed forces' storied past. Americans who fought in France's hedgerow country; those who bled in the sands and jungles of the Pacific Islands, who braved the
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: onslaught of the Chinese Army in the frozen terrain of Korea and who fought a desperate battle to retake Hue from the enemy during the Tet Offensive and against numerically superior forces in an
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: isolated Marine base at Khe San, will recognize and honor the sacrifice of Americans who now fight with such valor, determination, and skill to defend the security interests and the honor of our
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: country in desperate battles in Iraq.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: The hour is indeed late in Iraq. How we have arrived at this critical and desperate moment has been well chronicled, and history's judgment about the long catalog of mistakes in the prosecution of
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: this war will be stern and unforgiving. But history will revere the honor and the sacrifice of those Americans who, despite the mistakes and failures of both civilian and military leaders, shouldered
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: a rifle and risked everything--everything--so that the country they love so well might not suffer the many dangerous consequences of defeat.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: We read in our leading newspapers about those veterans of the Iraq war who have organized to oppose its continuation. They have fought for America's freedom, and they have every right to exercise
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: their freedom, to oppose their Government's policies. I wish, though, that the press would pay at least equal attention to the many veterans--many more veterans, many more veterans--who have fought,
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: suffered, and witnessed the ultimate sacrifice, the loss of their dearest friends, and yet are still committed to America's success in Iraq, and to those who have served multiple tours in this
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: terrible war and yet reenlist because they remain steadfast in the belief that they can achieve the mission they have already risked so much to achieve. The American public, those who still support
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: our effort in Iraq and those who desire a quick end to it, should be daily reminded that although our country is deeply divided about this war, most of the many thousands of Americans who have
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: suffered its worst miseries are still resolved still resolved that it not end in an American defeat.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Our new counter insurgency strategy is succeeding where our previous tactics failed us. We are taking from the enemy and holding territory that was once given up for lost. Those who have falsely
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: described General Petraeus's efforts as "staying the course" are the real advocates of continuing on the course of failure. Many of those who decry the way we got into this war and the way we fought
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: it are now advocating a way out of it that suffers from more willful refusal to face facts than they accuse the administration of exhibiting. Although we all seem to be united in recognizing the
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: mistakes and failures of the past, the proponents of reducing our forces in Iraq and keeping them in secure bases from which they could occasionally launch search and destroy missions are proposing
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: to return to the very tactics that have brought us to the point of trying to salvage from the wreckage of those mistakes a last best hope for success.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: That's what General Petraeus and the Americans he has the honor to command are trying to do to fight smarter and better, in a way that addresses and doesn't strengthen the tactics of the enemy and to
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: give the Iraqis the security and opportunity to make the necessary political decisions to save their country from the abyss of genocide and a permanent and spreading war. So far, the Maliki
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Government has not risen to that challenge, and it must do so. It is obvious that America is losing our resolve to continue sacrificing its sons and daughters, while the Iraqi Government will not
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: take the political risks to do what is plainly in the best interests of the Iraqi people.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: But we do not fight only for the interest of Iraqis, Mr. President, we fight for ours as well. We, too, we Members of Congress, must face our responsibilities honestly and bravely. What is asked of
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: us is so less onerous than what we have asked from our servicemen and women, but no less consequential. We need not risk our lives, nor our health, but only our political advantages so that General
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Petraeus has the time and resources he has asked for to follow up on his recent successes and help save Iraq and America from the catastrophe that would be an American defeat. That is not much to
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: risk compared to the sacrifices made by Americans fighting in Iraq or the terrible consequences of our defeat. For if we withdraw from Iraq, if we choose to lose there, there is no doubt in my mind,
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: no doubt at all, that we will be back--in Iraq and elsewhere--in many more desperate fights to protect our security and at an even greater cost in American lives and treasure.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: Little is asked of us to help prevent this catastrophe, but so much depends on our willingness to do so, on the sincerity of our pledge to serve America's interests before our own. The Americans who
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: must make the greatest sacrifices have earned the right to insist that we do our duty, as best as we can see it, and accept willingly and graciously whatever small sacrifice we must make with our own
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: personal and partisan ambitions. Ours is a noisy, restive, and contentious profession. It has always been thus, and it always will be. But in this moment of serious peril for America, we must all of
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: us remember to whom and what we owe our first allegiance--to the security of the American people and to the ideals upon which we our Nation was founded. That responsibility is our dearest privilege
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: and to be judged by history to have discharged it honorably will, in the end, matter so much more to all of us than any fleeting glory of popular acclaim, electoral advantage or office. The history
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: of this country, after all, is not merely a chronicle of political winners and losers, it is a judgment of who has and who has not contributed to the continued success of America, the greatest
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: political experiment in human history.
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: It is my sincere wish that all of us, Republicans and Democrats, should know in our hearts whatever mistakes we have made in our lives, personally or politically, whatever acclaim we have achieved or
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: disappointment we have suffered, that we have, in the end, earned history's favor. I hope we might all have good reason to expect a kinder judgment of our flaws and follies because when it mattered
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: most we chose to put the interests of this great and good Nation before our own, and helped, in our own small way, preserve for all humanity the magnificent and inspiring example of an assured,
McCAIN, SEN. JOHN: successful and ever advancing America and the ideals that make us still the greatest Nation on Earth. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: The Senator from Massachusetts is recognized.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Mr. President, these are very difficult days in our history, and I welcome the comments of my friend and colleague from Arizona and his views about the position of the United States
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: and its policy with regard to Iraq. He reminds us that we ought to free ourselves from these political considerations. This situation is too demanding, the value of our involvement in terms of
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: American service men and women, too dear, the resources of this country too important to squander them.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: A number of us had serious reservations about involving the United States in military engagement, a war with Iraq. A number of us still remember being on the Armed Services Committee and listening to
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: the combat commanders--the first panel in the Armed Services Committee on that particular day. We listened to General Hoar, from Hyde Park, Massachusetts, a highly decorated marine. We saw a number
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: of decorations for bravery and courage in Vietnam. Listened to General Nash, who had been in the first gulf war and had been our Commander in Bosnia. We read through General Zinni's comments at that
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: time. We listened to General Clark as well. All are a group of combat commanders, and all urged that the United States keep its focus and attention on those that brought the tragedy to the United States on 9/11.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Osama bin Laden. The real threat and danger to the United States was Al-Qaeda. They were located in Afghanistan. They said that is where our focus and attention should be and that involvement in
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Iraq would be clearly not in our interest. I remember those extraordinary words of General Hoar, who said if we become involved in Iraq, the battle in Baghdad that he foresaw would make the first few
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: moments of "Private Ryan" look like a church picnic, the last few moments. . "Private Ryan" was that extraordinary film made by Steven Spielberg. That made a very profound impression upon me. That
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: impression was enhanced when we listened to the statements that were made by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld when they talked about the weapons of mass destruction being on the north, south, east, and west of Baghdad.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: The ranking member of our committee, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, had suggested that we give information to the inspectors. The response was that we cannot give it to the
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: inspectors because Saddam Hussein will move them. Senator Levin then said: Well, why don't we then watch where they are being moved to, to be able to convince the world community about these weapons of mass destruction?
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: At least it was assumed by the response that was given at that time that we were going to make available to the inspection teams the locations of those weapons of mass destruction. We found out,
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: historically, that never happened because there weren't any. So there was important debate and discussion within the administration.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Should we follow the precedent of President Bush 1, which said this is a very important issue about going to war in Iraq, and rather than attaining it in the course of an election, let's have an
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: election, and then have the Congress make a judgment and decision. The decision said public opinion at that time overwhelmingly to go to war, and we were going to have that vote just prior to the
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: election. I hope we are going to spare ourselves this idea that those of us who are supporting the Levin-Reed amendment are somehow looking at the politics of it. We saw the realities of it when we
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: made the mistake in going to war.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: And secondly, Mr. President, we are very mindful that Iraq is a country with 26 million or 27 million people. It basically has an extraordinary history and incredible culture, amazing oil reserves,
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: many different kinds of assets. But it was defeated 10 years ago by the United States of America in a war--defeated. And we had the air space, controlling that over Iraq, and they had, the best
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: estimate was a military budget after they were able to use the oil-for-food program, maybe $2 billion or or $3 billion a year. Now we've had the best fighting force in the world over there in excess of 4 years fighting.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: As many of us have said, the military has done everything they were called to do. Does anybody doubt the finest military force which swept through western Europe and Africa and Italy, went through
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: the Pacific in less time in World War II? We have had them over there bogged down in this country of 27 million people. Has anybody doubted that we need more than a military resolution and solution,
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: and the fact that we continue to keep the American service men and women in harm's way, that we are somehow protecting them? Is that what we are being asked to believe after they have been over there
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: for 4 years, when they are able and capable of doing everything which they have done, and done so bravely, I say it is time to bring them home. I say it is time to support the Levin amendment.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: So I hope during this debate that we are not going to have the continued references on the issues of patriotism. We've worn that argument out. We're heard it all before.. It didn't work in the last
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: election, where many of us who were strongly opposed to the war faced those kinds of drum beats.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Secondly, our Founding Fathers had a very important view about what the Senate of the United States should be and the importance of protecting minority views in this body. This was going to be the
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: institution that was going to be able to permit the individuals that represented minority views, differing views, to be able to express themselves. As we have learned historically that so often,
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: those views expressed by a small group often become the majority accepted views in future years. The Founding Fathers understood that. They wanted to make sure those ideas and concepts were going to be protected.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: What the Founding Fathers never anticipated was that rules were going to be used to abuse the American people's right to be able to express themselves, particularly on issues of war and peace. And
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: that is what we are seeing now--delay for delay's sake, delay for delay's sake, not delay so that we can have greater information about what is happening over in Iraq. That is not the issue. It is
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: delay for delay's sake, a refusal to permit the Senate to express itself.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: The House has expressed itself. Permit the Senate to express itself. Want debate, discussion? Fine, let's have it!. The American people have made up their minds on this issue. We don't have to doubt
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: that. The American people have made up their minds. They want their elected representatives to speak. I understand why the Republicans don't want their name on that roll call as supporting this
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: President, this war, at this time. I understand that. I understand that. And that, my colleagues, is really what this is about. People just refuse, don't want it.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Let's have some process or procedure, some way to avoid calling the roll and taking a stand on an issue of war and peace. And that is what this debate, at least for the next several hours, is going to be about.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Are we going to be able to permit this institution to function in the way it was intended to function; that is, at a time when the American people have made a judgment and a decision on a particular
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: issue, to be able to call the roll and have accountability, or whether we are going to be denied that. After all of the rhetoric about the role in history and the importance of this issue, that is where it comes down.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: So, Mr. President, this is an extremely important discussion and debate. What is so important to understand is that this is not an issue that is going away. Those of us who were opposed to the war
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: continue to be opposed to it. Listen to the argument about what the consequences are going to be. What are the consequences going to be now, what are they going to be in 3 years, what are they going
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: to be in 5 years, what are they going to be in 7 years? Many of us were sufficiently uncertain about this issue that we voted "no" in terms of giving to this President the authority to move this
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: country and commit it in a way that we have done so.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Mr. President, America is paying an enormous cost for a war we never should have fought, and it is time to bring it to an end. The war has divided us here at home. It has made us more isolated in the
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: world. Never before, even in the Vietnam war, has America taken such massive military action with so little international support.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: As the intelligence community confirmed yet again today, the war has become a significant recruitment tool for al-Qaida. What was the surge intended to accomplish? Surge was meant to reduce violence;
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: it has not. To permit reconstruction; it has not. To promote reconciliation; it hasn't. All we have to do is read the Administration's own reports.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: As the intelligence community confirmed yet again today, the war has become a significant recruitment tool for al-Qaida. It says, the NIE: We assess that Al Qaeda's association with Al Qaeda Iraq
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: helps Al Qaeda to energize the broader Sunni extremist community, raise resources, and recruit and indoctrinate operatives, including for homeland attacks.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: This has obviously made the war on terrorism harder, not easier, to win. Nevertheless, the administration still continues to turn a deaf ear to all the voices calling for change. It continues to
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: plead for more and more time to pursue its failed course in Iraq. Republicans in the Senate continue to filibuster any effort to outline a clear timetable for the withdrawal of American troops.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: The disastrous consequences of our policy could have been avoided if the President and his advisers had asked the right questions before rushing headlong into an unnecessary and unjust war.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: In my church, there are six principles which guide the determination of just war. They were developed by Saint Augustine in the 5th century and expanded by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: To be just, a war must have a just cause, confronting a danger that is beyond question. It must be declared by a legitimate authority acting on behalf of the people. It must be driven by the right
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: intention, not ulterior, self-interested motives. It must be a last resort. It must be proportional so that the harm inflicted does not outweigh the good achieved. And it must have a reasonable chance of success.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: These are the sound criteria by which the President should have judged our war in Iraq, but he failed our men and women in uniform by refusing to seek honest answers to these important questions
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: before recklessly plunging the Nation into war.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: We now know with crystal clarity that the war in Iraq did not meet these criteria. Saddam did not pose the kind of threat that justified this war, but we went to war anyway without legitimate support
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: from the international community. The administration was wrong to allow the anti-Iraq zealots in its ranks to exploit the 9/11 tragedy to make war against Iraq a higher priority than the war against
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: terrorism in Afghanistan.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: War with Iraq was most certainly not the last resort. All options were not pursued. We should have given inspectors more time to reveal that there were, in fact, no weapons of mass destruction. The
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: human cost of this war has been unacceptable. More than 3,600 Americans have been killed and nearly 27,000 wounded. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and Iraq has descended into civil war.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: The administration's incompetence in waging this misguided war has left no reasonable chance for success. Americans have spoken clearly and urgently about the need to end the war, and it is time for
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: the President to listen to their pleas. We should end this war with a scaled-back mission for our troops and a clear timetable for withdrawal specified in the Levin-Reed amendment.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: America has been sadly diminished in the world because of this colossal blunder. Anti-Americanism is on the rise. We have seemed to have lost our way, our vision, and our confidence in the future.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: In his farewell address to the Nation in January of 1989, Ronald Reagan described one of the singular triumphs of his Presidency: the recovery of America's standing and morale. I believe he was right when he said:
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: America is respected again in the world and looked to for leadership.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Other nations understood that the best guarantee of peace and stability was for the United States to live up to its ideals as a beacon of hope for the rest of the planet. We were admired for our
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: democracy and respected for our economic strength.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Today, others have stopped listening to us the way they once did. At the end of June, the Pew Global Attitudes Project reported that since 2002, the image of the United States has plummeted
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: throughout the world. Our image is abysmal in most Muslim countries and continues to decline among the people of many of America's oldest allies. We have strained the extraordinary alliances that
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: advanced our ideals, as well as our interests.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: At the root of much of the anti-Americanism that has surfaced in recent years is the perception of American unilateralism in international affairs. I am astonished when some say it does not matter
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: that so many in the world no longer respect the United States. Of course, it matters. It matters to our security, as it has mattered since the first days of our Republic.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: The opening paragraph of the Declaration of Independence acknowledges the importance of a decent respect for the opinions of mankind. That respect is as important today as it was when our Founders
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: signed the Declaration, affirming it on the first Fourth of July.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: To restore America's standing and strength, we must end the war in Iraq and recapture that combination of realism and idealism that have inspired Americans for generations. Ending this unacceptable
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: war is essential to our security and to regaining our respect in the world.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: The great challenges facing our fragile planet require an abundance of hope that only a united and a determined America can provide. America has to lead. America has to inspire. But we cannot do so
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: if we remain bogged down in Iraq's civil war. Might alone cannot make America right. By prescribing our own rules for the modern world, we have deprived our great Nation of the moral claim that is
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: the basis of our being, the purpose of our power, and we are paying an exorbitant price.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: We can, and sometimes must, defend democracy by force, but we cannot impose it by force. Democratic principles are universal, but democracy must find its champions within each country's culture and
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: traditions. We need to end the war and regain a time when America is able to seek common ground with our friends. We need to renew the alliances that kept the world safe for human rights and human
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: survival when the threat of nuclear war was a clear and present danger.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: We will always defend our interests, but we put them at grave risk when we act unilaterally in an independent world. We live in a time of enormous possibility and enormous risk. No nation is
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: guaranteed a limitless future of prosperity or security. We have to work for it. We have to sacrifice for it. The sacrifices we are making in Iraq are no longer worth the immense cost in human lives
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: or the immense cost to our national prestige and interest.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: President Bush has squandered every opportunity to stabilize Iraq. Any honest assessment can realistically lead to only one conclusion: American interest will best be served when our military
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: disengages from Iraq. Certainly, there will be violence when our combat troops leave, but there will be far more violence if we continue to police Iraq's civil war indefinitely, as the President proposes.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Last week President Bush said, "There is war fatigue in America. It's affecting our psychology." For once the President is right. There is fatigue in America. Americans are tired of an administration
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: whose ill-conceived notion of a preventive war plunged this Nation into Iraq's bloody civil war. Americans are tired of an administration that told us the mission was accomplished when the tally of
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: American dead was only beginning to mount. Americans are tired of an administration that continues to promise that hope is just around the corner and begs for time for a policy that stands no chance
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: of succeeding now, in September, or ever.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Years ago, one of the giants of the Senate said that partisanship should stop at the water's edge.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Arthur Vandenberg, a Republican from Michigan, who was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, worked closely with President Truman to lay the foundation for the foreign policy of the United
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: States that could guide us through the Cold War. Senator Vandenberg set the bar high for us in the Senate. We can aspire to that idea, but it's hard to achieve it in this Congress, as it has been in other Congresses.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Over the past few weeks, a shift has begun to take place, not as quickly as many of us feel is necessary, but nonetheless a change. Two weeks ago, in a speech on this floor, one of the successors of
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Arthur Vandenberg as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, our distinguished colleague from Indiana who was himself chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, reminded us that we do not owe
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: the President our unquestioning agreement, but we do owe him and the American people our constructive engagement.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Last Friday, Senator Lugar was joined by the senior Senator from Virginia, Senator. Warner, in offering an amendment that would require the administration to review our Iraq strategy and outline
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: plans for an orderly redeployment of our troops.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Two weeks ago in a statement on this floor, Senator Lugar said: The United States has violated some basic national security precepts during our military engagements in Iraq. We have overestimated
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: what the military can achieve, and we have set goals that are unrealistic, and we have inadequately factored in the broader regional consequences of our actions. Perhaps more critically, our focus on
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: Iraq has diverted us from opportunities to change the world in directions that strengthen our national security.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: I agree with that judgment, although I believe that the Warner-Lugar amendment does not go far enough in bringing this war to an end. It is undeniable that the American people have turned against
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: this war, and it's imperative for the President to understand and accept that basic fact. We call for the President to end the war, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans who are deeply
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: concerned about the perilous path on which the Nation is moving.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: The American people understand that there are no easy options, but they also understand that the President's strategy simply does not protect U.S. interests. They understand that it is wrong to buy
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: time, to hand off the mess in Iraq to the next President, and to keep our troops in harm's way with a policy that is not worthy of their sacrifice.
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: The overarching question is not whether we leave Iraq but how we leave Iraq. Disastrous choices and disastrous leadership have brought us to this dangerous point, and we need to redefine our
KENNEDY, SEN. EDWARD: strategic goal in Iraq and the region and have a realistic policy that supports that objective. Whatever we do, it is going to be difficult, but we need to move forward and begin the process, and soon.