Lee: Bush's Refusal to Rule Out Permanent Bases Fuels Iraq Violence, Endangers Troops
(Oakland, CA) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), leader of the Congressional effort to prevent the establishment of permanent military bases in Iraq, released the following statement in response to President Bush's refusal today to answer a direct question about whether the US intends to maintain permanent military bases in Iraq:
“The President's continued refusal to clearly rule out a permanent U.S. military presence in Iraq only feeds the mistrust of the Iraqi public, strengthens the insurgency and fuels the violence on the ground,” said Lee.
A recent poll found that not only the overwhelming majority of Iraqis want the U.S. to leave, but that the overwhelming majority believes that the U.S. plans to keep permanent bases in Iraq, and that belief is highly correlated with support for attacks on U.S. forces.
The poll, released by the Program on International Policy Attitudes in late September, found that almost 80 percent of Iraqis believe the US military is “provoking more conflict than it is preventing” and 71 percent want US forces to leave in the next year.
Nearly 80 percent of Iraqis believe that the US intends to maintain permanent military bases in Iraq, and six in 10 approve of attacks on U.S. forces, an increase from January, when less than half approved of such attacks. According to the poll, “If the US were to commit to withdraw, more than half of those who approve of attacks on US troops say that their support for attacks would diminish.”
Before going into recess, Lee led a bipartisan group of 72 members of Congress in writing to members of the conference committee on the Defense appropriations bill, calling on them to protect language in the bill that prohibits the establishment of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. The House voted to bar the use of fiscal year 2007 Department of Defense funds from being used to establish permanent bases.
Lee introduced legislation in June, 2005 to prevent the establishment of permanent bases that now has the bipartisan support of 86 cosponsors. She offered no-permanent-bases amendments three times and succeeded in having it unanimously accepted into the FY06 supplemental appropriations bill. However, this provision was stripped in conference committee. Her amendment was also the basis of provisions included in the FY07 Department of Defense spending bill and the FY07 State-Science-Justice-State spending bill.
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