Says Senate Will be Held Accountable for refusing real debate, vote

February 6, 2007

Washington – Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a leading voice against the Senate’s inaction regarding the war in Iraq, today spoke on the floor of the Senate, saying that the Senate will be judged for its refusal to allow a real debate on Iraq, and a vote on a meaningful piece of binding legislation. Senator Dodd, who has attempted to limit troop levels in Iraq and force the President to return to Congress to get a new authorization for the war, has said that he will vote against the Warner-Levin legislation.

February 1, 2007

“I strongly oppose the Warner-Levin legislation; it is essentially an endorsement of the status quo, an endorsement I simply cannot make in light of the dire circumstances in Iraq, and the need for meaningful action now.

January 30, 2007

Thank you Mr. Chairman for holding this hearing. It’s a privilege to have Congressman Hamilton and Secretary Baker before us today to testify on the Iraq Study Group Report and our Iraq policy. 

I’d like to thank both of you for your tireless service to our country and for your leadership as Co-Chairs of the Iraq Study Group. Your report has played an invaluable role in starting a real debate on this administration’s Iraq policy that was long overdue.

January 26, 2007

January 25, 2007

Thanks for joining me here. Yesterday was a big day in the Foreign Relations Committee.  I thought I would just take a minute or so and tell you the state of play and where things went. The Administration, of course, does not want to hear about anything except what they want to do. And the escalation President Bush speaks of is merely just the status quo plus 22,000 more young people put in harm’s way.

January 24, 2007

Mr. Chairman, I believe that the state of disarray in Iraq is terribly much on the minds of all Americans.  As is the tragic loss of life of some of the most courageous of our young men and women in uniform.

Download the podcast
here: January 24, 2007

This morning, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which Senator Dodd is a senior member, met to consider a non-binding resolution to express the Senate’s opposition to the President’s Iraq strategy escalating troop levels within Iraq.  This resolution passed. 

Any increases above 1/16/07 troop levels would require Congressional Authorization; Precedent Exists in 1973, 1983, 1984, 2000

Reports that Trop Increase Won’t be Adequately Protected

January 16, 2007         

Washington, DC: Today Senators Edward M. Kennedy and Chris Dodd sent a letter to Secretary Robert Gates questioning him about a recent report that two new brigades of troops the President intends to send to Iraq will be deployed without the protection of the most up-to-date armored vehicles.  The Senators, who strongly oppose the escalation of the war, contend that "it makes no sense to send even more of our forces into danger" and ask the Secretary of Defense to explain what he is doing to rectify the problem and provide adequate protection.
        
Last week, Senator Kennedy introduced legislation that would require Congress to vote before the President escalates troop levels to fight a civil war — giving the American people a voice in the process.
        
Senator Dodd is the author of several provisions signed into law to provide U.S. military members critical combat equipment, including a 2006 measure to restock thousands of war-battered military vehicles and a 2004 initiative to reimburse troops for buying their own body armor and other gear for use in Iraq and Afghanistan.

January 11, 2007

On the eve of the Second World War, the 20^th Century’s most daunting and difficult struggle, Winston Churchill explained that “there is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away…People face peril or misfortune with fortitude and buoyancy, but they bitterly resent being deceived or finding that those responsible for their affairs are themselves dwelling in a fool’s paradise.”

 Madam Secretary, I’m sorry to say that today, “fool’s paradise” describes nothing so aptly as our failed Iraq policy. You and I know it, the American people know it, and the Iraqi people know it most painfully.