Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 -- Continued

Floor Speech

CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--Continued -- (Senate - December 18, 2007)

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Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I say to my friend from Virginia, thank you. I do hope you will take an opportunity to speak because your voice needs to be heard.

I say to my good friend Senator Levin, we have had a number of chances to work together. I am afraid this is not one of those moments.

What does all of this mean if this language passes? The bill will get vetoed. And when you read the language, what is so bad about it? I know the intent of the author is to try to make Iraq a better place, and he said for as long--I do not want to misquote him--as long as you have this many troops in Iraq, they are not going to do what they need to do politically. They use the troops as a crutch. I think that is the general theme, that we need to somehow let the Iraqi Government know we are not going to be there forever with this number of troops. You need to step up to the plate, generally speaking. I think that is your view of how to put pressure on the Maliki government to reconcile, but, again, I will let you speak for yourself.

My view is that the lack of security has been the biggest impediment to reconciliation, and the security changes in Iraq give us the best hope we have had in 4 years of finding a way forward politically in Iraq. If we change by word or deed or perception our commitment to the military strategy that is currently working, we would be undercutting our best chance for reconciliation.

This amendment, this sense-of-the-Senate amendment, does not do anything positive. It sends the signal I have been trying to avoid for well over a year now. For 3 1/2 years we had the wrong strategy. Finally we have the right strategy, and in my opinion, the best, sensible thing the Senate could do is allow the surge to go forward without any interference, give General Petraeus and those under his command what they need to finish the job. They have done a wonderful job. We are going into the holiday season here and every American, every political leader, should celebrate what I think has been the most outstanding military operation in counterinsurgency history, and we should not have any more debates about that. It is a fact now. We should support it without reservation.

This amendment, the sense of the Senate, will send a confusing signal about what we intend to do militarily. The Senate, in my opinion, should not try to change the mission. The mission is to win. Very simply put, what is my goal in Iraq? My goal is to win a war we cannot afford to lose, to have a military footprint in Iraq as long as it takes to keep al-Qaida on the run, and when we come home, which we surely will, to come home with victory in hand and let the military commanders who are not worried about the 2008 election decide when that transition should take place. Quite frankly, as much as I love my colleagues in this body, I do not trust anybody, including myself, to transition this mission other than General Petraeus.

This statement will be seized upon by people who are following this bill very closely and will send all of the wrong signals, and that is why it will be vetoed. The most sensible thing the Senate could do, and we should have done this 4 or 5 months ago, is allow the surge to go forward without political interference. This is not the time to take command of the operation in Iraq from General Petraeus and his command team and give it to the Senate.

I hope and pray we will allow the surge to be funded, to go forward, and to achieve the goal that is in the national interest of the United States, and that is victory, victory over extremism and support of moderation. So this attempt at making a political statement is ill-advised, comes at the wrong time, sends the wrong signal. The most sensible thing the Senate could do is reject this and allow our military commanders to transition based on facts on the ground, not the next poll or the next election.

I yield the floor.

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