WASHINGTON - U.S. Representative Artur Davis offered the following statement concerning today’s vote on the Iraq resolution.

“There are parts of the Iraq resolution that I fully support; I certainly salute the valor of our soldiers and the Iraqi people.  I continue to believe it is unwise to announce to the enemy a date for withdrawal.  I also recognize our genuine successes in Iraq, from the capture of Saddam Hussein to the killing of murderers like Al-Zarqawi.

But I could not support a resolution whose main purpose is to endorse the Bush Administration’s policy of a continuing commitment to a large-scale troop presence in Iraq.  That policy has cost us approximately 2,500 American lives, while still failing to stop the violent insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.  Our military should begin the process of transferring the overwhelming load of our responsibilities to the Iraqi security forces, and our new emphasis should be on training and modernizing those forces as best as possible. 

As much as we desire a better future for the Iraqi people, we have sacrificed too many of our young people for the dubious purpose of securing another country’s political stability.  Whether Iraq can emerge as a functioning democracy is a test for the Iraqi people and for the tolerance of their competing religious faiths.  It is the Iraqi people, and not our soldiers, who will determine Iraq’s destiny. “