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Doyle statement on Iraq December 2005
Dear Friend,
Congress is once again debating U.S. policy in Iraq . As one of the Members of Congress who opposed invading Iraq , I believe that this debate is long overdue.
When Congress voted three years ago to authorize the invasion of Iraq , I was one of the Members of Congress who voted against it. At the time, I believed that the Administration had failed to make a convincing case that Iraq possessed or was building weapons of mass destruction, or that the Iraqi government had played a role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, or that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States . Subsequent events have validated my conclusions.
Unfortunately, the invasion and occupation of Iraq didn't advance the war on terrorism. In fact, it's made the world less safe. But after we invaded Iraq , I felt that we had to maintain a military presence there until stability had been achieved.
Over the last two and a half years, I have had great concern about the Bush Administration's exit strategy for Iraq . From the beginning, this administration has lacked a clear, coherent policy for rebuilding Iraq and bringing U.S. troops home. President Bush's latest plan for victory is simply a repackaged rehash of his existing failed policies – policies that would keep us mired in a conflict in Iraq for years to come.
I have nothing but unqualified admiration and appreciation for our troops in action overseas. They've done everything we could possibly have asked of them. But the next part of the job can only be done by the Iraqis. Only Iraqi forces will be able to end the insurgency and bring stability to Iraq , and it's time for them to take over the fight. Our continued military presence has become a crutch that is preventing the Iraqi security forces from taking over the fight against the insurgents.
U.S. Representative Jack Murtha recently reinvigorated the national debate over Iraq by suggesting that the U.S. military has done all it can do in Iraq, and that it's time for the Iraqi security forces to take over the responsibility for guarding Iraq's borders and fighting the insurgents. I share Mr. Murtha's views, and I am a cosponsor of H. J. Res. 73, his bill calling for the redeployment of the U.S. armed forces currently in Iraq . This legislation calls for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq at the earliest practicable date. It also calls for maintaining a U.S. quick-reaction force in the region to provide Iraq 's newly elected leaders with security assistance should they request it. Finally, this bill calls for the United States to pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy.
I support this approach because I've come to understand over time that our continued presence there is only making the situation worse. As one defense expert has said, our occupation of Iraq “galvanizes the resistance and motivates the jihadists.” I believe that, as Graham Allison, a foreign policy official in the Reagan and Clinton administrations and now Dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has written, the occupation of Iraq “has diverted essential resources from the fight against al Qaeda, allowed the Taliban to regroup in Afghanistan, fostered neglect of the Iranian nuclear threat, undermined alliances critical to preventing terrorism, devastated America's standing with every country in Europe and destroyed it with the Muslim world…and…discredited the larger case for a serious campaign to prevent nuclear terrorism.” I believe that the departure of U.S. armed forces will sap the Iraqi insurgency of much of its domestic Iraqi support.
It's time for Iraqis to take over the defense of their country. Iraqis will have to decide whether their new, democratic government is worth fighting for, and the onus must fall on them to do so. Given the many misjudgments and errors that have already been made by this Administration, that's the best option we have now – for our troops and for the Iraqi people.
For months now, the Pentagon has been anticipating, if not actively planning, a major drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq in the coming year. But only now, after Congressman Murtha spoke out, has the Bush Administration begun suggesting that a drawdown is possible. Congressman Murtha's courageous stand has restarted the national conversation about how to bring our troops home and stabilize the region.
As someone who opposed the war even before it started, I'm happy to see Congress again debating this issue. As some of our country's greatest Republican leaders (Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower) have shown, questioning our government during wartime is not unpatriotic – quite the opposite, in fact. Citizens freely questioning our government is what makes our system strong.
I will be working in the coming months to promote a thoughtful, thorough consideration of U.S. options in Iraq – and to achieve the complete transfer of military operations in Iraq to the Iraqis as quickly as possible. A token withdrawal won't do. It continues to be a pleasure to serve you, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Mike Doyle
Member of Congress