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Press Releases
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DOLE REMARKS AT SENATE HEARING WITH PETRAEUS AND CROCKER
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September 11th, 2007 - Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole today made the following remarks at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with General David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, the top American military and civilian officials in Iraq:
“General Petraeus, Ambassador Crocker, my heartfelt thanks for your tremendous service to our country. Let me say at the outset that all of us, and all Americans, want to see our brave young men and women come home as soon as possible. My home state of North Carolina, for example, has 37,000 currently deployed troops. A total of 151,000 personnel have been deployed.
“Our shared heartfelt concerns in the Senate for our troops and for the safety and security of our country should draw us toward consensus. But as we all know, a conspicuous gap exists between two policy positions, namely a long-term military commitment on the one hand, and mandated withdrawal on the other. We must seek common ground based on a set of shared principles.
“A growing number of our fellow Americans oppose a long-term U.S. military commitment. At the same time many understand the profoundly negative long-term security implications, for our country and for the Middle East, of a premature withdrawal of American forces before Iraqi Security Forces are able to independently conduct security operations across their country.
“The difficulty of the current American and Iraqi situation is rooted, in large part, in the Bush Administration’s substantial failure to understand the full implications of our military invasion, and the litany of mistakes made at the outset of the war. Regardless, our task must be to see the way forward, to agree upon a policy that the majority of Americans will support and one that provides the American and Iraqi people with the greatest opportunity for success.
“I believe that a requisite level of security must be a precondition for political reconciliation, and we know that security has improved in substantial areas of the country. The continued failure of the Maliki government to achieve reconciliation, and the fact that current U.S. force levels are not sustainable beyond next spring, compels me to support what some have called “action-forcing measures.”
“General Petraeus, I strongly agree with your recommendation to begin withdrawal of the equivalent of six brigades between this month and next July. I would hope, consistent with your security assessment, that many units not withdrawn could be reassigned beginning next spring to conduct border security operations, to reduce the flow of Iranian arms, particularly explosively formed projectiles, and other military supplies, to more effectively deny entry to foreign fighters through Syria, to supplement the training of additional Iraqi Security Forces, to conduct support operations or to back up Iraqi forces that increasingly should have the lead in security operations.
“A recent Wall Street Journal article described that the Pentagon is preparing to build its first base for U.S. forces near the Iraq-Iran border, in a major new effort to curb the flow of advanced Iranian weaponry to Shiite militants. Of course there must be more, which has been discussed here today, and I certainly would like to see more secure borders and more activity along the long border and the Syrian border, as we move people out of the Baghdad region and into the border areas.”
Dole followed up her statement with a question about whether neighboring countries that have vested interests in a stable Iraq are pulling their weight to not only positively contribute to the diplomatic efforts in Iraq but also to assist militarily.
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