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July 17, 2007
Supporting our Troops
By Jon KylThe Senate has been considering the 2008 Defense Authorization bill, which sets the policy and spending priorities for the Defense Department.
But most of the time has been spent debating our policy in Iraq and voting on amendments to withdraw our troops or put restrictions on troop deployments. So far, none of these amendments has been adopted - the Senate has reaffirmed support for the President's policy and General Petraeus's mission. The gist of this new policy is to utilize a "surge" in troop strength not only to clear al Qaeda from areas but to keep it out by holding the cleared areas with American or Iraqi troops. Prior to this, when our troops left to clear other areas and the terrorists just moved back in.
It is important that we defeat al Qaeda in Iraq. Iraq, after all, is the central front in the global war against the terrorists. This isn't my claim, but rather the declaration that has been made by Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders. Our success there is not only vital to the people of Iraq, but it is critical to the war against the terrorists and the national security of the United States.
During the debate on the defense bill, there has been much talk about "supporting our troops." I believe supporting the troops means not only providing our troops what they need to succeed in their mission in a material sense, but providing the political and moral support that they need to continue their mission, not undermining their efforts with actions back here at home. Nothing would be more harmful to the mission or morale of our troops than for Congress to declare their efforts a failure.
General Petraeus's new strategy must be given an opportunity to succeed. The Senate unanimously sent General Petraeus to Iraq to implement the strategy to begin establishing security across the country; and he has clearly made significant progress in that effort.
The full force of the surge has now been in place for three weeks, and the strategy is already showing signs of success, most notably the improved security in Anbar province, reductions in Baghdad's sectarian violence, and increased cooperation between various factions in opposition to al-Qaeda.
With this new strategy showing early indications of improvement, I believe Congress should await General Petraeus's report in September before making judgments about what to do next.
The Senate will continue to consider amendments--for example, an effort to strike from the bill provisions that weaken our policy in dealing with captured enemy combatants. Unless amended, the bill would require terrorists to be treated more like criminal defendants than prisoners of war, complete with trials, government-provided lawyers and a mandate to share highly classified information with the terrorists to aid in their defense. This is nuts!
The President has already signified he will veto the bill if these provisions aren't changed. Hopefully, we can prevent that by changing the bill now.
