Senate Hearing on Bush’s Iraq Policy of War Escalation

Senate Hearing on Bush’s Iraq Policy of War Escalation The atmosphere was very somber, and the senators, who are representing the people, are trapped between the President and the people. Their constituency is not all that calm, all are speaking with high anxiety. One person shouted out “You are all liars!” One of the few senators that agreed even partially with Bush, the Florida Senator, said, “There is only one point that I agree with the President, and that is to send 4000 troops to Anbar province. The reason is that Anbar is a Sunni stronghold, and if they are struggling against Al Qaeda, we should help their cause. But I’m against his proposing to send 17000 troops into Baghdad.” Senate Foreign Relation Committee chairman, Joseph Biden made the conclusion: To Secretary Rice, you have heard our colleagues.. 1) Making Maliki committed to “Take out the Sunnis” will exacerbate the problem of sectarian violence. Free mind comment – it is true that Shiites have been under Sunni oppression, but now that the Shiites are in power, it is not time to collaborate with the Americans to do ethnic cleansing, Americans across party lines will never accept that. 2) You have to explicitly deny that you are to go into Iran or Syria. We’ll find out if the President makes the move. If he is to pursue on the border into Iran, we will generate “Constitution Confrontation”. 3) I think what it occurs is profound and you heard 21 members with one or two exceptions, all expressed overwhelming concern at president’s proposal. He will proceed with risk if not detailed intent to bring in U.S. Senate into his proposal. I hope that the administration doesn’t think it is a done deal, with 21,000 troops, we are ranged from skepticism, to intense skepticism, to outright opposition. If we can’t figure out how to bring along the American people, we will mortgage the ability of this president and the next president, and damage our national interest because the requirement to deploy other parts. From the looks of things, the majority of Americans now disagree with Bush’s strategy, and the senators are just reflecting their constituents. The November elections were a clear message from the American people that now is the time to begin reducing troops and sending them home from Iraq. Instead the president is going in the opposite direction by sending more troops.