Washington – Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar is sponsoring a Senate amendment urging the Bush administration to launch a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of this year.
Salazar, who voted against setting a fixed deadline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq last week, joined three other Senate Democrats as sponsors of the measure, which is being seen as a compromise for senators who want to show their impatience with the situation in Iraq, but won’t support a date certain for the removal of U.S. forces.
The non-binding measure would call on President Bush to begin redeploying troops this year, and to furnish Congress with a plan for further redeployment after 2006. Debate could begin today.
“The time has come for us to make sure that the Iraqi government and the political leadership know that we are not there forever,” said Salazar, D-Colo. “What we are trying to do with our amendment is to make sure that we’re sending a loud-and-clear signal … that we’re getting to the point in time where we need to start this phased redeployment of our troops.”
Salazar joined Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Dianne Feinstein of California as sponsors of the measure, which is expected to be voted on later this week.
Another Democratic amendment – by Sens. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, Barbara Boxer of California and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin – would require the administration to withdraw U.S. combat and support troops by July 1, 2007.
A similar measure, requiring withdrawal by Dec. 31, 2006, was offered by Republican leaders to divide the Democrats and embarrass antiwar senators and defeated last week.
Most Republicans are expected to oppose the plan that Salazar has co-sponsored.
“We should be sending the message…we are there to achieve victory,” said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., in the Senate this morning.
But Democrats believe Iraq’s new government needs prodding.
“The current open-ended commitment of U.S. forces in Iraq is unsustainable and is creating an indefinite dependency which gives the Iraqis the impression that their security is mainly in our hands, instead of theirs,” said Levin. “Continuing an open-ended commitment is like a security blanket which reduces the pressure on Iraqis to take the difficult steps that only they can take.”
