Joseph Biden: Mr. President, I would like to speak on our amendment, our bill,
Joseph Biden: and what I'd like to do at this moment is address one of the arguments I've heard many of my colleagues make over the past two days of this debate.
Joseph Biden: The argument I heard when I was on the floor yesterday and again I heard it today is that the joint resolution that we are debating is an effort to micromanage micromanage the war
Joseph Biden: by focusing the mission of U.S. armed forces on training Iraqis, denying terrorists a safe haven in Iraq, and force protection.
Joseph Biden: Now, if you listen to my colleagues who oppose this you hear them recount that as if somehow that is exceeding the power of the people to speak
Joseph Biden: through their Congress as to what role American military forces are permitted to play.
Joseph Biden: Many of my colleagues on the other side go on to argue that we are somehow overstepping our Constitutional boundaries in defining the purpose for which U.S. forces can be used in Iraq.
Joseph Biden: Well, that argument, I respectfully suggest, Mr. President, is dead wrong.
Joseph Biden: Defining the overall mission of U.S. troops is entirely within the power of the United States Congress under the U.S, Constitution.
Joseph Biden: Indeed, not doing so would be an abdication of our fundamental duty under the Constitution which clearly places the war power in the hands of the Congress.
Joseph Biden: Now let me give you a few illustrations if I may Mr. President.
Joseph Biden: In 2002 when we voted to authorize the use of force against Iraq, we defined the purpose.
Joseph Biden: We defined the purpose for which the President was permitted to use American forces against Iraq.
Joseph Biden: It was to quote "defend the national security of the U.S. against the continuing threat posed by Iraq,
Joseph Biden: and further," and I'm quoting "to enforce all relevant UN security council resolutions regarding Iraq."
Joseph Biden: During the course of the negotiations on that resolution, in which I was deeply involved, Congress made it clear, at least on this side as one of the several people speaking for the Democrats
Joseph Biden: at the time in the Senate-- we specifically and clearly rejected the Bush administration's initial proposal for using force in Iraq.
Joseph Biden: President Bush sought what I believe to be, and the majority of the Senate eventually did,
Joseph Biden: an overly broad authority to use force:and I quote " to restore international peace and security in the region."
Joseph Biden: End of quote.
Joseph Biden: I read that at the time as a grant of authority to the President that far exceeded what arguably was necessary at all in Iraq.
Joseph Biden: The function of our military force was not to restore international peace and security in the region.
Joseph Biden: We redefined it.
Joseph Biden: We struck that and said: The use of force is to defend the national security of the United States against a continuing threat from Iraq, not the region; not the region.
Joseph Biden: Now, after the President's attempted overreach here, we narrowed the geographic scope of the authority the Congress, under the Constitution,
Joseph Biden: was willing to grant the President, and we narrowed the purpose for which he was allowed to use force.
Joseph Biden: We did two things.
Joseph Biden: We not only said, Mr. President, this is not about the region.
Joseph Biden: You can only use force, if necessary, dealing with Iraq being a threat to the United States.
Joseph Biden: I remind everybody what we were being told at the time.
Joseph Biden: We were being told that Iraq had by the Vice President that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear program.
Joseph Biden: Simply not true.
Joseph Biden: It was not true when he stated it.
Joseph Biden: Our intelligence community not only said he did not reconstitute the nuclear program, it said he had no nuclear program.
Joseph Biden: That is not what we were told.
Joseph Biden: So we gave him authority, I remind everyone, to negotiate at the United Nations, to keep the pressure of the world on Iraq, to bring back the U.N. people,
Joseph Biden: to determine what nuclear program or weapons of mass destruction he had, to get the inspectors back in, and to negotiate to do that, because at the time the argument taking place in the world was,
Joseph Biden: was the U.S. embargo, was the world embargo, were the U.N. inspectors causing pain for innocent Iraqis?
Joseph Biden: Do you remember how many times we heard the argument that the reason why there was not enough medicine, the reason why children were dying, the reason why they did not ha ve enough food,
Joseph Biden: was because of this awful thing the United States was leading, the embargo on Iraq, the Food for Oil Program?
Joseph Biden: So to put this in context so everybody remembers, there were a lot of us on the floor willing to give deference to the President, who we thought was responsible in the exercise of power at the time,
Joseph Biden: because he appeared responsible immediately after 9/11; he proceeded correctly relative to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Joseph Biden: He did not go off willy-nilly and start bombing people.
Joseph Biden: He built the case.
Joseph Biden: He sent his envoys all over the world.
Joseph Biden: He made a compelling case for the right for us to invade Afghanistan.
Joseph Biden: He even went so far as to worry about whether or not the Arab street would rise up if we attacked Muslims in Afghanistan.
Joseph Biden: He engaged in public diplomacy.
Joseph Biden: He did a fine job.
Joseph Biden: That was the context in which we gave him this power.
Joseph Biden: But even then, as much as he had done well relative to Afghanistan at the time, we quite frankly did not trust him or any President to have this broad reach of authority which he asked for,
Joseph Biden: which was to maintain peace, international peace and security in the region.
Joseph Biden: So we cut back the authority we gave him to negotiate at the U.N. Remember what he tried to do.
Joseph Biden: He came and made the argument: There has to be a demonstration that all of the Nation support him in that we must keep pressure on Saddam.
Joseph Biden: All Democrats and Republicans support him.
Joseph Biden: That was the argument made to us.
Joseph Biden: He did not come up here and make the argument to the Foreign Relations Committee, the Armed Services Committee: We need to be able to attack.
Joseph Biden: He argued we needed to be able to give him the moral authority to go to the United Nations and keep the pressure on,
Joseph Biden: because the French were wavering, the Europeans were wavering, some Arab countries were wavering.
Joseph Biden: And then as time went on, he built this argument about they reconstituted their nuclear weapons and the like.
Joseph Biden: But even then we did not give him the authority he asked for.
Joseph Biden: Why am I dwelling on this?
Joseph Biden: Well, we made a clear judgment as a Senate and as a House, as a Congress, that he did not have the geographic scope for the extended purpose he wanted.
Joseph Biden: We said: Here is your writ, Mr. President.
Joseph Biden: Here is the region you are allowed to, if need be, use force-- in this constrained area called Iraq.
Joseph Biden: Because you are telling us, Mr. President, it is a threat to the United States of America, not a threat to the region, it is a threat to the United States of America.
Joseph Biden: So you have the authority to deal with that, if necessary.
Joseph Biden: Secondly, Mr. President, even within Iraq, you can only use the force to enforce all relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.
Joseph Biden: If memory serves me, there were 16, including resolutions relating to weapons of mass destruction.
Joseph Biden: So that was the rationale.
Joseph Biden: We severely limited the authority he wanted because we thought it was an overreach.
Joseph Biden: Now we know there were no weapons of mass destruction.
Joseph Biden: Now we know-- I will speak and say what I believe-- hopefully the Intelligence Committee will show--
Joseph Biden: not only did we have bad intelligence, but the good intelligence we had was misused by the administration, in my opinion.
Joseph Biden: We will find out whether that turns out to be true.
Joseph Biden: In 2002, when we offered the authorization to use force, we defined the purpose.
Joseph Biden: So I ask those who argue that we are now overstepping our bounds with this resolution,
Joseph Biden: did we overstep our bounds in 2002 when we authorized the use of force against Iraq, when we limited what the President wanted to do?
Joseph Biden: If, in fact, we don't have the constitutional authority today to limit what the President wants to do, how did we have the authority to do it in 2002?
Joseph Biden: As I said, what is the rationale for the continued authority under the 2002 resolution?
Joseph Biden: There are no weapons of mass destruction.
Joseph Biden: All the U.N. resolutions are in compliance.
Joseph Biden: And nobody argues the Iraqi Government is a threat to the United States of America.
Joseph Biden: Are they going to invade us?
Joseph Biden: To those who have a problem with the mission we defined in this joint resolution before the Senate, I also say,
Joseph Biden: listen to Prime Minister Tony Blair in announcing last month the redeployment of British forces from Iraq.
Joseph Biden: Last month the mission the British Government assigned to those Brits who will remain in Iraq is precisely what we prescribed in our resolution.
Joseph Biden: The new mission of the British forces in Iraq is the following: to transfer responsibility to the Iraqis; to train and support Iraqi forces;
Joseph Biden: to help secure the border and supply routes; and to conduct operations against extremist groups, i.e., Al-Qaida.
Joseph Biden: It is not to fight in the Iraqi civil war.
Joseph Biden: It is not to be in the lead role in security operations in Basra, where they had authority, or in Baghdad, where they did not.
Joseph Biden: In short, with the exception of denying terrorists sanctuary and training of Iraqis, the British forces are moving from the driver's seat to the backseat.
Joseph Biden: This resolution proposes that very transition for our forces in Iraq.
Joseph Biden: So I ask again, rhetorically, does the Vice President think Prime Minister Blair's announcement of a "redeployment," as the Vice President said, "validates the al-Qaida strategy"?
Joseph Biden: That is what he is accusing the Congress of.
Joseph Biden: That is what he accuses me and Carl Levin of when we came up with this idea, that is now a leadership amendment; we are validating al-Qaida's strategy.
Joseph Biden: Are the British validating al-Qaida's strategy?
Joseph Biden: Is he saying Tony Blair is validating Osama binLaden?
Joseph Biden: It is ridiculous.
Joseph Biden: It is a ridiculous argument.
Joseph Biden: It falls in the face of the facts.
Joseph Biden: It comes down to this: Do we want American troops fighting an Iraqi civil war?
Joseph Biden: Is that what we want these troops for?
Joseph Biden: Is that why we sent them?
Joseph Biden: Do you think, when we voted back in 2002, if we knew there were no weapons of mass destruction, if Saddam were gone, if they were in compliance with other U.N. resolutions,
Joseph Biden: but if there were a raging civil war, do you think we would have voted on the floor of this body to send a hundred and fifty, sixty, seventy,
Joseph Biden: eighty thousand American troops to Iraq to help them settle their civil war?
Joseph Biden: What do you think?
Joseph Biden: I don't think so.
Joseph Biden: I don't think so.
Joseph Biden: We might have sent troops to Jordan.
Joseph Biden: We might have done what we are trying now in Amman and the emirates.
Joseph Biden: We might have beefed up Turkey.
Joseph Biden: We might have cooperated to go after al-Qaida sites.
Joseph Biden: But I doubt very much we would vote now to get in the midst of a self-sustaining cycle of sectarian violence, which is what it is.
Joseph Biden: If you really want American troops fighting a civil war in Iraq, if you want that, then vote against this resolution, do not vote for it.
Joseph Biden: Do not vote for it.
Joseph Biden: You say that is not fair; we are not engaged in fighting in a civil war.
Joseph Biden: Has anybody asked themselves the rhetorical question: Why is it that Sadr, who has been responsible for killing a lot of Americans, and his Mahdi army,
Joseph Biden: which has been responsible for killing a lot of Americans, why is it that the Shia-led Mahdi army, particularly in Sadr City, has taken off their uniforms, hidden their weapons, and as of yesterday--
Joseph Biden: I have not checked today-- there were rumors that Sadr is no longer in Iraq?
Joseph Biden: Maybe he is back now.
Joseph Biden: We do not know for sure where he is.
Joseph Biden: Why is it that they took down the blockade?
Joseph Biden: Is it because all of a sudden they turned peace loving?
Joseph Biden: I respectfully suggest, Mr. President, because inadvertently the 17,500 troops we are surging into the middle of Baghdad, we are surging them into 20-some neighborhoods that are Sunni.
Joseph Biden: They are bad guys, these former Saddamists, these former Baathists-- this insurgency who were referred to until recently by the Secretary of Defense as "a bunch of dead enders."
Joseph Biden: I respectfully suggest the reason why all of a sudden the Shia in Sadr City are lying low is
Joseph Biden: because they are very happy the United States is doing their job for them, killing their enemy, killing the bad guys whoare Sunnis.
Joseph Biden: Does anybody think if we succeed in that mission that all of a sudden we are not going to see all those weapons come out of hiding in Sadr City?
Joseph Biden: Does anybody think that all of a sudden it is going to be safe for Americans in that region?
Joseph Biden: Does anybody think the uniforms aren't going to come back on and the roadblocks aren't going to go back up?
Joseph Biden: These folks aren't dumb.
Joseph Biden: It is not our purpose, but the effect is, we are engaged in this civil war.
Joseph Biden: The question to me is, What is the plan to responsibly end our participation in this war without leaving behind chaos, without having traded a dictator for chaos,
Joseph Biden: without having left behind a cycle of self-sustaining sectarian violenc e that metastasizes into the fragmentation of Iraq and metastisizes in the region-- Turkey, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia?
Joseph Biden: What is the answer?
Joseph Biden: So far, I don't hear a plan.The president says that the reason why we need to surge these forces and Notice, by the way, now the surge is really getting bumped up,
Joseph Biden: as some of us predicted on this floor when he announced the surge and predicted in our committee, 17,000 people to 22,500, whatever the actual number was initially.
Joseph Biden: Now they are saying they are going to need 30,000 people for the surge.
Joseph Biden: Why? Because it is like squeezing a water balloon.
Joseph Biden: The bad guys have left this area in part, and they have now gone to the province directly outside of Baghdad.
Joseph Biden: The guy from the Heritage foundation who was a former general General Keane is a very bright fellow, an honest guy, a former four-star general, who testified before our committee.
Joseph Biden: He came up with the original plan about surging.
Joseph Biden: He said: In order for this to work, you are going to have to surge well beyond Baghdad.
Joseph Biden: You are going to have to go into Anbar Province and beyond.
Joseph Biden: He predicted what would happen.
Joseph Biden: They said: No, we are only talking about 22,500 troops.
Joseph Biden: What is the purpose of the surge?
Joseph Biden: The purpose of the surge, we are told-- in a humanitarian sense, it makes a lot of sense,
Joseph Biden: except for the humanitarian interest of our troops-- is to bring order to Baghdad, stop the killing and the chaos.
Joseph Biden: Why? Because when that happens and they have -- I think the phrase used is "breathing room"-- when they have that breathing room, what is going to happen?
Joseph Biden: Then they can negotiate.
Joseph Biden: Then they will sit down and negotiate an agreement among themselves.
Joseph Biden: Has anybody asked the question, What will be the basis of that negotiation?
Joseph Biden: What is the idea?
Joseph Biden: What is the element?
Joseph Biden: What is the political solution?
Joseph Biden: The President continues to insist on a well-intended but fundamentally flawed strategy.
Joseph Biden: The flawed strategy is, it is possible to have a strong central democratic government.
Joseph Biden: Before we went to war, I never believed, and so stated, that there is not going to be a democracy there in any of our lifetimes,
Joseph Biden: including the Presiding Officer, who is considerably younger than most of us.
Joseph Biden: It is not going to happen.
Joseph Biden: It is possible that we could leave behind a country secure within its borders, loosely federated, not a threat to its neighbor and not a haven for terror, but that is as good as it is going to get.
Joseph Biden: At least one and probably both of my colleagues in the Chamber were here during the Balkan crisis in Bosnia.
Joseph Biden: What does history teach us and what does recent experience teach us?
Joseph Biden: Wherever there is a cycle of self-sustaining genocide, self-sustaining secular violence, when in modern history has it ended other than any one of four ways: One, a victor.
Joseph Biden: They wipe out the other two sides or three sides or one side, and one of the ethnic groups prevails militarily on the battlefield.
Joseph Biden: Two, occupation by an outside force-- the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Empire, the British Empire.
Joseph Biden: We can't afford the first to happen because that would have a devastating impact on the region because everybody knows the Sunni states will get more involved.
Joseph Biden: If it goes the other way, the Shia states will be involved in Iran beyond what they are now.
Joseph Biden: That is not a real option.
Joseph Biden: We are not an occupying force.
Joseph Biden: It is not in our DNA.
Joseph Biden: We are not an empire.
Joseph Biden: The third option, historically, is a dictator, a strongman.
Joseph Biden: Wouldn't that be the ultimate irony-- us going to Iraq to take down Saddam and restoring a strong man, which, I respectfully suggest,
Joseph Biden: we should consider might happen because eventually we are going to leave and the dysfunctional circumstances in Iraq are as likely to produce a strong military leader to take
Joseph Biden: over as anything else, although there is no individual in sight right now.
Joseph Biden: That is not an option available to us.
Joseph Biden: What is the fourth historical option?
Joseph Biden: Federation, a federal system, a weak central government within the defined borders of a country that, in fact, gives the warring sectarian parties some control over the fabric of their daily lives,
Joseph Biden: their local police force for their public safety, rules relating to marriage, education.
Joseph Biden: That is the only other option which has ever worked.
Joseph Biden: It doesn't work perfectly.
Joseph Biden: What does recent history tell us?
Joseph Biden: Like many here, I was deeply involved in our Balkan policy.
Joseph Biden: As my friend from Kansas may remember, I, to use the vernacular, beat President Clinton up and about the head to use force in the Balkans.
Joseph Biden: I argued, after encountering Milosevic 2 years before he acted in his office--
Joseph Biden: when he asked me what I thought of him, I said: I think you are a damn war criminal, and I am going to spend my career seeing you tried as one.
Joseph Biden: I came back and wrote report after report, after close to a dozen visits.
Joseph Biden: I saw what was happening in Brcko, in Tuzla, in Sarajevo, in Srebenica, more sectarian violence in the Balkans from Vlad the Impaler to Milosevic than ever occurred in what is now called Iraq.
Joseph Biden: So how did we end it?