Barbara Lee Introduces Bill to Prevent Permanent Bases in Iraq
(Washington, DC) – Late Thursday evening, Congresswoman Barbara Lee introduced a bill to prevent the establishment of permanent bases in Iraq.
“We need to make it perfectly clear that there will be no permanent US military presence in Iraq,” said Lee. “An open-ended military presence in Iraq will only fuel the insurgency and make our troops more vulnerable.”
Lee’s bill states that it is “the policy of the United States not to enter into any base agreements with the Government of Iraq that would lead to a permanent United States military presence in Iraq.” It was introduced with 34 cosponsors and referred to the House International Relations Committee. Earlier this month, Lee introduced a similar measure as an amendment to the State Department Authorization bill during the International Relations Committee consideration of the bill.
On April 13, 2004, President Bush said: “As a proud and independent people, Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation and neither does America.”
On February 17, 2005, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, said “We have no intention, at the present time, of putting permanent bases in Iraq.”
“The aim of this bill is to simply codify the sentiments expressed by the President and the Secretary of Defense that we will not have a permanent military presence in Iraq,” said Lee.
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