Joe Biden Rips Bush On Iraq War Resolution in this video (6min 21sec) during debate on the United States Senate Floor. Our troops don't lose wars. Bad policy, bad leadership loses wars. The senate should have the courage to stand up and tell this administration they have had a God-awful policy.
They have put our troops in a position where it is virtually impossible for them to succeed at the outset. They deserve a policy. They deserve a plan.
THERE IS NO PLAN! We went to war with too few troops. We went to war unnecessarily. We went to war with these men and women ill-equipped. They're coming home ill-served.
It's about time we have the courage to stand up and say 'Mr President, you have not only put us in harm's way - YOU HAVE HARMED US! You have no policy, Mr. President.' I'm so tired of hearing on this floor about courage. Have the courage to tell the administration: STOP THIS RIDICULOUS POLICY YOU HAVE! We're taking sides in a civil war..."
"...In the Balkans, How did we solve that? We solved it with a policy of Seperating the Parties. This is s cycle of self-sustaining sectarian violence that 20,000, 30,000, 50,000, 100,000 AMERICANS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STOP! Mr. President, this is ridiculous. There is no plan!
I ask the president or anyone else who comes forward with a plan whether it's Capping or Surging or whatever they have, will they answer 'the 2 Word Test': Then What? Then What? THEN WHAT? What happens after we surge these women and men?
And by the way, he said General Petraeus is one who believes - HE MAY BE THE ONLY ONE WHO BELIEVES this is a good idea. Virtuall no one else thinks it's a good idea.
Look, in this story about the constitution, We gave the president specific authority which is our responsibility. It was to take down SADDAM, if need be. It was to get rid of Weapons of Mass Destruction THAT DID NOT EXIST. And it was to get complience of the UN resolutions. EVERY ONE OF THOSE HAVE BEEN MET! SADDAM IS DEAD! THERE WERE NO WEAPONS! AND IRAQ IS IN COMPLIENCE WITH THE UN! So if you want to be literal about it, his mission no longer has the force of law!<.p>
Rest of transcript is below the video.
Every one I have spoken to, including from the Biden-Geld Plan straight through to the Iraq Study Group, says look, 'Use our troops wisely.' Use them wisely. And what are the missions? We have the right and obligation constitutionally that we should have the courage, constitutionally, to exercise our responsibility to say 'Why are our troops there?'
Did anybody on the floor count on the utter incompetance of this administration when they were given the authority they were given? ABSOLUTE INCOMPETANCE!
I stood on this floor three years ago, saying we need another one hundred thousand troops, BEFORE the sectarian violence became self-sustaining and warned, as others did. Once it did, all the king's horses and all the king's man cannot hold that country together.
So, what's our objective here? Our objective is to leave Iraq relatively stable within it's own borders, not a threat to it's neighbors, and not a haven for terror. What is the president and my friend from Ariizona there (McCann) insisting on? WHAT CAN NEVER BE. A central government that is a democracy that is going to be fair to the rest of it's citizens. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. Mark my words.
So, as long as the president keeps us on this ridiculous path, taking us off a cliff..., I asked my collegues 'Does anybody think they are going to sustain keeping American forces in Iraq at a hundred sixty thousand for another year and a half? What do you think? What's gonna happen in Tennessee, in Delaware, in Illinios? Are we gonna break this man's and women's army? WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO HERE? How many times are we going to ask those 175,000 marines to rotate through there - three, four, five, six, seven times?'
And what is the president's POLITICAL solution? I love this! Everyone says, 'There is no military solution, only a political solution.' Name me one person who's come up with a political solution. ONE! Other than me and Les Geld. Where is the political solution?
It's what history teaches us. When there is a self-sustaining sectarian violence - only one of four possibilities: It either expires they kill each other off, two you impose a dictator, three you have an empire or four you have a federal system...
Mr. President I am tired of hearing this about courage. The only courage being evidenced in this country are those folks out in the battlefield. Gettin' shot at. Gettin' killed. WHY ARE THEY THERE? Let's get on with this. This is the only rational way to move. All this malarcy about cutting off funds. This is about 'the mission'. MR. PRESIDENT, YOU ARE LEADING US OFF A CLIFF. STOP!
"...In the Balkans, How did we solve that? We solved it with a policy of Seperating the Parties. This is s cycle of self-sustaining sectarian violence that 20,000, 30,000, 50,000, 100,000 AMERICANS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STOP! Mr. President, this is ridiculous. There is no plan!
And by the way, he said General Petraeus is one who believes - HE MAY BE THE ONLY ONE WHO BELIEVES this is a good idea. Virtuall no one else thinks it's a good idea.
I stood on this floor three years ago, saying we need another one hundred thousand troops, BEFORE the sectarian violence became self-sustaining and warned, as others did. Once it did, all the king's horses and all the king's man cannot hold that country together.
So, as long as the president keeps us on this ridiculous path, taking us off a cliff..., I asked my collegues 'Does anybody think they are going to sustain keeping American forces in Iraq at a hundred sixty thousand for another year and a half? What do you think? What's gonna happen in Tennessee, in Delaware, in Illinios? Are we gonna break this man's and women's army? WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO HERE? How many times are we going to ask those 175,000 marines to rotate through there - three, four, five, six, seven times?'
