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| Press Release: November 05, 2005 | ||
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| Congressman Olver Statement on Withdrawal From Iraq
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WASHINGTON, D.C. ‚ On November 5, 2005, Congressman John W. Olver (D-1st District) shared the following statement with a number of his constituents in the First District: "Over a 15 year period, the U.S. has engaged in two wars in Iraq. President Herbert Walker Bush, with the full support of the United Nations and a broad coalition of participating nations, followed his military commanders' advice by deploying 500,000 troops to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion. Saddam Hussein was driven out of Kuwait with only 19 American soldiers losing their lives. "In contrast, George W. Bush, without U.N. support and only a small coalition of the so called 'willing,' rejected his highest military commanders' advice and deployed only 140,000 troops to overthrow Saddam Hussein, occupy Iraq, and establish a free and stable Iraq. Establishing a free and stable Iraq is a noble goal, yet after two and a half years of war, occupation, and insurgency, the only 'Mission Accomplished' is the unnecessary loss of American soldiers' lives. "Our casualties in this ill-conceived war in Iraq have now passed 2,038 American soldiers killed. More than 90 percent of those deaths have occurred since the Presidentís declaration of ëMission Accomplished' 30 months ago. In fact, in October, 92 American soldiers were killed making it the fourth deadliest month in all the 30 months of war. The U.S. mission in Iraq is stuck in a spiraling catch-22 in which both war and reconstruction are taking longer and costing much more than any estimate, over $200 billion spent to date and the insurgency continues. Failure to reconstruct the infrastructure and the tactic of powerful attacks on insurgents in urban areas like Fallujah and Tallafar backfires by wreaking heavy physical destruction that makes enemies of the surviving civilian population and more suicide bomber recruits. This strategy breeds and fuels the insurgency. For these reasons it is now clearer than ever that we must have an exit strategy that this administration has never even thought about. "The creation of the Iraqi constitution is a logical first step toward stability and an exit strateg, but the constitution is seriously flawed because the drafting process did not include at least one of the major ethnic/religious groups in Iraq. The parliamentary elections to take place in December certainly promise to be more inclusive of all religious and ethnic segments of Iraqi citizens, and those elected representatives will need to consider and adopt constitutional amendments to guide a free, stable, and democratic Iraq but through political processes. "This newly elected, more representative Iraqi Parliament will almost certainly demand the U.S. withdrawal. More than two-thirds of all Shiite Arabs, who make up at least 60 percent of the population and at least 80 percent of Sunni Arabs, who make up one-sixth of the Iraqi population, already want an end to U.S. occupation. When the new parliament is seated, the pressure for withdrawal of American forces will be even stronger. The U.S. must have a plan to withdraw our forces deliberately after the elected parliament is convened. "Several steps should now be taken in preparation for an orderly withdrawal. The United States should state unequivocally that we have no intention to retain permanent military bases in Iraq. We should immediately terminate counter productive search and destroy missions that make enemies of the civilian population and instead focus our military attention on training and equipping Iraqi units, particularly their officer corps, for taking over the security needs of Iraq. These acts would allow us to credibly make a new concerted effort to involve NATO, UN members, and European and Arab countries not contiguous to Iraq in the training of security forces and their leaders for Iraq. "These are important steps because in order for stability and Democracy in Iraq to prevail, our military must leave and allow Iraqis to take ownership of the stability and unity of their country through political means." |
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