June 22, 2006
The Senate today voted by a margin of 60 to 39 in support of the Bush administration’s “stay the course” strategy in Iraq. Problem is, the course the president is on in Iraq has been wrong from day one, in turn weakening our nation’s ability to defeat resurgent terrorist networks in the Middle East and Central Asia or to defend our national security interests elsewhere in the world.
The Bush administration has lost control of the war in Iraq, as our own ambassador told the president just recently. And the administration has lost control in the broader fight against global terror networks — in Somalia, in the Palestinian territories, and on other key fronts. Global terror attacks tripled in 2004 and then doubled again in 2005.
The Bush administration has lost control of Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda and the Taliban are surging because the administration left the mission unaccomplished there. And it’s lost control in Iran and North Korea, appeasing the worst elements there by not having a coherent policy to secure U.S. interests.
The cost in American lives and taxpayers’ money grows by the day, even as federal deficits spiral out of control. Progressives have offered serious, practical alternatives to this serial train wreck. America is a great country that can take back control of its foreign policies to shape events around the world to advance our interests. We need only act.
America can take back control of events in Iraq by setting a plan to redeploy our troops and complete the mission at a time of our choosing — and not when the Iraqis decide to get their act together.
The Center for American Progress continues to offer a policy alternative that addresses the global threats the United States faces and does not leave America hostage and tied down to events in Iraq, as the Bush strategy does.
The Center is proud that key pieces of our proposal were included in the amendments offered on the Senate floor today, amendments that if approved would have set America on the right course in Iraq.
We also need to take back control of events in North Korea and Iran — by setting a tough policy to meet the emerging nuclear threats there combined with deft diplomacy to ensure we handle these threats with persuasion before resorting to force. America can no longer afford to remain hostage to events around the world. We need to take the right actions to set us back on the right course — in a new direction that makes Americans safer.
Strategic Redeployment 2.0: Read the executive summary and full report here (PDF)
For further details on why national security experts across the political spectrum consider America less safe today than at any time since 9/11, please see our research on the matter done in league with Foreign Policy magazine.
For further details on how Congress can help ensure America is safer from terrorist assault by exercising its oversight of the U.S. Intelligence Community more effectively, please read our recent report:
No Mere Oversight: Congressional Oversight of Intelligence is Broken
Also read our Memo to the Community on Iraq, covering the flaws with the Bush administration’s Iraq policy and debunking conservative myths about the war (available on the Center for American Progress Action Fund):
Debating Iraq: Punches and Counterpunches
© Center for American Progress
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