Doggett: We need to chart a smarter course

Lloyd Doggett, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Speaking in opposition to authorizing President Bush's Iraq invasion, I said during House debate on Oct. 9, 2002: "The house-to-house urban warfare that would likely result from a land invasion would endanger our soldiers, detract from our ongoing war on terrorism, and expose our families to terrorism for years to come."

Despite the overwhelming vote of House Democrats against this tragic war, radical ideologues bent facts, distorted intelligence and perpetrated lies designed to mislead the American people into believing that a third-rate thug had a hand in the 9/11 tragedy and was soon to unleash a mushroom cloud over our homeland. In fact, this war was launched without an imminent threat to our families; it endangers our families more every day and is creating new generations of terrorists.

Ignoring both our long-standing allies and professional military advice about the number of troops and the type of equipment needed, those who rushed to war expected to be greeted with roses and quick victory. But with too few troops to guard Iraqi weapons caches, terrorists had their pick of tools of death.

And now more than 2,500 Americans lie dead, ripped from their families — with about another 20,000 seriously injured. Each day, American taxpayers are forced to spend $229 million in Iraq; total appropriations are approaching half a trillion dollars. We pay again every time we fill up at the gas pump. Squandering the international goodwill our country enjoyed after 9/11, the president has significantly weakened our standing around the world that is so vital to our security.

Avoiding a true debate about our choices in Iraq, the House again last week considered a resolution combining thanks to our service members for their sacrifice, which I support, with language insisting the president is pursuing the right course in Iraq, which I do not support. Democrats were denied any opportunity to alter or amend the resolution.

Americans are increasingly realizing there is a better way to honor our troops than by sending off more of them to be killed. Would that there were even a little of the courage our troops have displayed on the battlefield here in Washington from those who refuse to challenge this administration's arrogant, myth-based policies, and who choose instead to cut and run from their responsibilities.

One retired general after another has publicly indicted this administration's misjudgment and mismanagement after privately offered advice was rejected. Last week, a survey of more than 100 of America's top foreign policy experts from across the ideological spectrum showed that an amazing 87 percent said the war in Iraq is having a negative impact on protecting the Americans people.

Instead of "staying the course," we need to chart a smarter course. It is not weakness or retreat to recognize this administration offers only an endless "spend and bleed" policy. A better approach is to unequivocally renounce permanent military bases and any claim to Iraq's oil. Instead of talking about more "regime change," we must involve even those governments we despise in a regional peace process. And because the presence of our troops in Iraq is fueling the insurgency, we need the type of strategic redeployment urged by my colleague Jack Murtha, D-Pa., and President Reagan's assistant secretary of defense, Lawrence Korb. Meanwhile, with a resurgent Taliban, we need to refocus our resources on Afghanistan and complete the mission from which this administration should never have been distracted.

I return to my words of Oct. 9, 2002: "True security means working together with nations, large and small. We must be wise enough to rely on America's other strengths to rid the world of Iraq's danger, rather than unilaterally imposing our will by force that will only unite our enemies while dividing our natural allies." This remains the proper course.

Neither paper resolutions nor more arrogance will defeat terrorism. More of our neighbors are questioning this war. The American people have not become weak-willed. It is the administration that remains stubbornly wrongheaded. We must continue to work together to alter its deadly pursuit of a desert mirage.

Doggett, who has represented Austin or parts of Austin since 1995, led the Democratic whip effort in 2002 to oppose the resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq.

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/06/18doggett_edit.html