The CBC "Message to America" is distributed nationwide to the American Urban Radio Network’s (AURN) affiliate stations.

 

WHO:        U.S. Congressman Harold Ford (D-TN)

WHEN:      Saturday, April 15, 2006; 12:06 p.m. EST

WHERE:   American Urban Radio Network Affiliate Stations

Hello. My name is Harold Ford, Jr. and I am a Congressman representing the great city of Memphis, Tennessee.

This past week, I traveled the width of my state by bus. I met with thousands of Tennesseans, listened to them and shared my vision for a new generation of leadership in the United States Senate.

The week was among my most rewarding. In small towns and urban centers, factories and armories, fire halls and lunch counters, we heard from thousands of Tennesseans, anxious for answers to serious questions: affordable healthcare, energy independence, balancing the budget, securing our nation, and making college a reality for everyone.

The most remarkable event, however, came not 30 minutes into my first stop at a middle school assembly in Blountville, when Amanda, a seventh-grade student, raised her right hand after I finished my speech and asked a simple question: ‘Why do we keep sending so many soldiers to Iraq? And why can’t the ones who are finished doing their job come home?’

"Amanda had good reason to ask. Her father, already a veteran of one tour in Iraq, is headed back this summer for another. He has been told he will be there for a year.

"I answered the best I could: that despite the President’s assurances that war in Iraq was necessary to keep us safe, that despite the missing weapons of mass destruction, the growing insurgency, and the fact that the President was just flat wrong when he proclaimed ‘mission accomplished,’ as Colin Powell once said so accurately, once you break something, it’s yours.

"Iraq is now indisputably ours. We are obliged to do it right. I have voted for every funding request the President has made for our troops there. I have traveled to Iraq four times, and remain hopeful for the country and its people.

"I no longer, however, have the same confidence in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. As more reports come in from our war planners and generals in the field, there is a growing consensus that Secretary Rumsfeld is part of the problem, rather than part of the answer.

"I do not come to this conclusion lightly. Instead, I have come to believe it only after listening to the experts. In the last four weeks, several senior administration, military and Republican Party officials, current and former, have gone public with their concerns.

• Major General Paul Eaton, who was in charge of training Iraqi security forces after Saddam was overthrown, said: ‘Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld is not competent to lead our armed forces. He has shown himself incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically, and is far more than anyone else responsible for what has happened to our important mission in Iraq. Mr. Rumsfeld must step down.’
• General Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, said: ‘We made some serious mistakes in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Baghdad. We didn't have enough troops on the ground. We didn't impose our will. And as a result, an insurgency got started, and … it got out of control.’
• Lieutenant General Gregory Newbold, who directed operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: the ‘commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions or bury the results. A fundamentally flawed plan was executed for an invented war, while pursuing the real enemy, al-Qaeda, became a secondary effort.’
• Even Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, said: ‘It was an enormous mistake for us to try to occupy [Iraq] after June of 2003.’

"I trust these generals and statesmen. Our soldiers, sailors, and Marines ask very little when we send them to war, but they do ask one thing we cannot deny them: a plan for victory built on achievable goals, realistic troop strengths and honest assessments.

"America is built upon a rock of personal responsibility.

"Our troops and veterans have accepted theirs. All Tennesseans who have supported these great men and women have accepted theirs. And if a seventh-grader at Blountville Middle School can accept hers with grace and dignity, Lord knows the Secretary of Defense should do no less.

"Secretary Rumsfeld, it is time for you to account to Amanda. It is time for you to resign.

"In his place, President Bush should name someone with the stature and expertise to get us back on track. Someone who commands the respect of statesmen and generals, Sunnis and Shi’ite. Someone who could rally foreign leaders to provide much needed support in rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure and improving security. There is only one person who fits that description, and I urge the President to appoint him to fix the job: Colin Powell.

Under his leadership, the Pentagon will turn the course and come up with a clear strategy to success in Iraq. Until then, I fear we are destined to continue the mistakes that have plagued us since this war started.

It is time for Secretary Rumsfeld to resign, and for Secretary Powell to help set things right.

God bless each of you.