Wyden Calls for Mandated Redeployment of U.S. Troops from Iraq
Cosponsors Feingold-Reid Amendment
Washington, DC - Calling for the redeployment of American forces in Iraq, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) announced his support today for the Feingold-Reid amendment, which would require the President to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by March 31, 2008.
"For more than four years, the Bush administration has been telling the American people that conditions in Iraq would change. They have, but for the worse. Today it is up to Congress to let the President and his administration know that using our nation's heroic men and women in uniform to police a civil war is not acceptable." Wyden said. "The Bush administration's mishandling of the war has left Congress with no good choices. But the road to peace is found in diplomacy, not the continued escalation of violence."
Wyden was one of the original twenty-three U.S. Senators to vote against the 2002 Iraq War Resolution. Since then, he has consistently and repeatedly voted to oppose the surge and bring U.S. troops home.
The Feingold-Reid amendment would immediately transition the mission of U.S. forces in Iraq to force protection, training Iraqi security forces and counterterrorism with a goal to safely redeploy troops not conducting these missions by March 31, 2008. The Feingold amendment enforces this timeline by prohibiting the funding of troops in Iraq not engaged in these three missions starting April 1, 2008.
Senator Wyden will also vote in favor of the Levin-Reid amendment, which will be considered in conjunction with the Feingold-Reid amendment. The Levin-Reid amendment would complete redeployment of American troops from Iraq within 180 days of October 1, 2007. The amendment permits the President to waive this redeployment timeline.
Senate Democrats are attempting to attach both the Feingold-Reid amendment and the Levin-Reid amendment to the Water Resources Development Act.
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