REPUBLICAN RESOLUTION PRAISES IRAQI GOVERNMENT AS IT CONSIDERS AMNESTY
FOR INSURGENTS WHO KILLED AMERICANS

Tanner: House should not support Iraqi leaders until
they promise not to excuse killing of U.S. troops

A House-passed resolution praises Iraqi leaders even while they reportedly consider granting amnesty to Iraqi insurgents who have killed American troops, Congressman John Tanner said.

“Twenty-five hundred American men and women have died since this Iraq war started three years ago, dozens of those from Tennessee,” Tanner said after the House passed a resolution praising the Iraqi government. “Now we find out that Iraqis might make the murder of U.S. troops an excusable offense. I find that repulsive and cannot support a resolution praising the Iraqi government until they vow not to grant that amnesty.”

A former aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said the new Iraqi government may offer amnesty to those insurgents who have killed only U.S. troops, according to reports in The Washington Post.

Tanner, who served in the Navy for four years and retired from the Tennessee National Guard as Colonel after serving 26 years, addressed the House of Representatives Thursday to condemn the potential amnesty. Following are portions of his remarks on the House floor. 

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Mr. TANNER. Mr. Speaker, our country was founded and bases itself on civilian control of the military. And when I wore the uniform of our country, I, like all other military people in uniform, followed orders. I obeyed my commanders and I tried to do whatever the mission was that was set before us. That is what you do in the military of the United States under civilian control.

But I am not in uniform any more. I am a civilian now, and part of that civilian authority. And it is our patriotic duty as part of that civilian authority to ask questions, to constantly reexamine the strategy, to constantly reexamine the policy of this country, to do everything we can to, one, accomplish our mission; and, secondly, and more importantly, protect the men and women who are actually doing the fighting for us now.

That is why this debate, I would have hoped, would have been broader; that we would have had more opportunity, because this debate in this country has to take place in this building on this floor here and in the Senate Chamber. It is the patriotic obligation and duty of civilian authority to do that, and I am proud to be here tonight. I have supported resolutions like this in the past.

There was a news report this morning that the new Iraqi government is negotiating with some of the elements there in Iraq that are insurgents who have been murdering Americans, and this was what one of the Iraqi government officials said this morning, according to these news reports, and I quote: “There is a patriotic feeling among the Iraqi youth and the belief that these attacks on Americans are legitimate acts of resistance in defending their homeland. These people will be pardoned, definitely, I believe.”

Now, unless that can be cleared up, I am not prepared to vote for a resolution which says in part that the United States and its coalition partners will continue to support Iraq. If this government in Iraq is going to grant amnesty to people who kill Americans because they feel it is their patriotic duty and they are defending their homeland, then we have got to reassess where we are with these people….

We need to clear this up before we vote on this resolution. I do not think the American people will support a government that grants amnesty to people who kill American soldiers.

Tanner represents Tennessee’s 8^th Congressional district, which includes 20 National Guard armories, the Millington naval base and portions of Fort Campbell, home to the United States Army’s 101^st Airborne Division.

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Contact: Randy Ford, 202.225.4714