Congressman Doyle Condemns Politicization of Iraq War

Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Mike Doyle (PA-14)condemned the Republican House Leadership today for its conduct of the debate over Iraq policy in the House of Representatives.

“The American people deserve a serious debate over our country’s policy in Iraq,” Congressman Doyle said today.  “What they’ve gotten is an election year stunt driven by the Republican Party’s political considerations.  This resolution is a sham, a straw man that fails to address the real issues that need to be debated in Congress.”

“The United States isn’t faced with a choice between ‘staying the course’ and ‘cutting and running,’” Congressman Doyle observed.  “Few if any Members of Congress are arguing that we should just pull out of Iraq.  But many of us are arguing that our current policies aren’t working and that we need to adopt a different strategy for success in Iraq.”

H.Res. 861, the legislation that was the nominal subject of the House debate over our policy in Iraq, contained a number of statements and resolutions – most of  which were completely non-controversial.  The controversial provision on which the debate on the House Floor focused declared that “it is not in the national security interest of the United States to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq.”

“The House debate was a gross caricature of the choice facing the United States in Iraq,” Congressman Doyle observed.  “We spent far too much time arguing over a non-existent option – immediate withdrawal – and not enough time on debating what we should be doing – handing over control of the country to the new government and redeploying the majority of our forces out of Iraq over the next year.”

“We don’t need to stay the course,” Congressman Doyle said.  “We need a new direction in Iraq and here at home.  There’s nothing arbitrary about the proposed redeployment.  Our allies in the new, democratically elected government of Iraq have asked us for a timetable for U.S. withdrawal.  I think we should honor their request.”

The House approved H.Res. 861 on a vote of 256 to 153.  No further action is expected on the bill, as it has no binding effect. 

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