Congressional Record – June 21, 2011

Sen. Joe Manchin: I believe it is time for President Obama to begin a substantial and responsible reduction in our military presence in Afghanistan. I believe it is time for us to rebuild America, not Afghanistan.

  That is why I strongly agreed with Senators Merkley and Lee, and the words of 27 of my Republican and Democratic colleagues, who made it clear in a letter they sent to the President last Thursday that:

  ….. we must accelerate the transfer responsibility for Afghanistan’s development to the Afghan people and their government. We should maintain our capacity to eliminate any new terrorist threats, continue to train the Afghan National Security Forces, and maintain our diplomatic and humanitarian efforts. However, these objectives do not require the presence of over 100,000 American troops engaged in intensive combat operations.

Sen. John McCain: I feel compelled to respond to the statements by the Senator from West Virginia which characterize the isolationist, withdrawal, lack of knowledge, of history attitude that seems to be on the rise in America.

  In case the Senator from West Virginia forgot it or never knew it, we withdrew from Afghanistan one time. We withdrew from Afghanistan, and the Taliban came, eventually followed by al-Qaida, followed by attacks on the United States of America.

  The Senator from West Virginia has expressed his admiration for the men and women who are serving. I hope he would pay attention to the finest military leader who will now be the head of the CIA, General Petraeus, whose knowledge and background may exceed that of the Senator from West Virginia.

  If we leave Afghanistan in defeat, we will repeat the lessons of history. It is not our expenditures on Afghanistan that are the reasons we are now experiencing budget difficulties.

AFGHANISTAN
Obama announces plan to bring home 33,000 ‘surge’ troops from Afghanistan
Scott Wilson, Washington Post- June 23, 2011
President Obama charted a middle course Wednesday for ending the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, outlining a departure plan that will remove troops faster than his commanders had requested but more slowly than many of his political allies would like.

Drawing Down, With a Vigilant Eye on Pakistan
David E. Sanger, New York Times- June 23, 2011
Hours after the Sept. 11 attacks, Pakistan’s leaders were given an ultimatum by the Bush administration: Because the looming war in Afghanistan could not be won without Pakistan’s help, Islamabad would have to choose between continuing its alliance with the Taliban or joining forces with the United States.

PAKISTAN
The radicalization of Pakistan’s military
Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post- June 22, 2011
Whatever their strength, American troops will not determine success in Afghanistan. Nor will the newly formed Afghan National Army. As U.S. forces are gradually withdrawn over the next three years, it is Pakistan’s 600,000-strong army that will become the dominant military force in the region and will try to shape its future.

India and Pakistan diplomats to meet in Islamabad
BBC- June 23, 2011
Senior diplomats from India and Pakistan are due to hold talks on peace and security in a bid to repair relations between the neighbors.

Pakistani makes drones for peaceful use but business risky
Sahar Ahmed, Reuters- June 23, 2011
In Pakistan’s commercial hub, a Pakistani is developing his own drone technology despite security challenges arising from the current political climate and the public anger over the U.S. use of the unmanned aircrafts.

IRAN
Ahmadinejad insists Iran not seeking nuclear bomb
Farhad Pouladi, AFP- June 23, 2011
Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted Thursday that Iran is not seeking to build an atom bomb but defiantly added that should it decide to do so “no one can do a damn thing.”
Iranian state television on Thursday quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying: “If we do want to make a bomb, we are not afraid of anybody.”

Iran Reports Arrest of U.S. Spy Ring
Neil MacFarquhar- June 22, 2011
Iran’s state-run Press TV announced on Wednesday that the government of the Islamic Republic had arrested 30 people in May on suspicion of spying for the United States.

NORTH KOREA
Strategic Patience Is Strategic Blunder
Joel Wit and Jenny Town, Foreign Policy- June 16, 2011
Don’t believe the hype: Obama’s North Korea plan is a mess.

SAUDI ARABIA
Rising Saudi Thirst for Oil Drives Plans to Go Nuclear
Angua McDowall, Wall Street Journal- June 23, 2011Rapid population growth, wastefulness and economic development are driving up Saudi Arabia’s thirst for energy, steadily reducing the amount of oil available for export and driving the kingdom’s interest in nuclear power.

GLOBAL ZERO
The Road to Zero
Financial Times- June 22, 2011
In 1963, John Kennedy warned that by the end of the 1970s as many as 25 states could hold nuclear weapons. That nightmarish world has not materialised. Indeed, in the 66 years since the US dropped the first atomic bomb, only eight further states have joined the nuclear club. Yet despite this apparent success, the risks of nuclear proliferation are not ebbing, but growing. It is time for a renewed push towards nuclear disarmament.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV): “I believe it is time for President Obama to begin a substantial and responsible reduction in our military presence in Afghanistan. I believe it is time for us to rebuild America, not Afghanistan. That is why I strongly agreed with Senators Merkley and Lee, and the words of 27 of my Republican and Democratic colleagues.”
Congressional Record, June 21, 2011

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA): “It is time for the United States to lighten its footprint in the country. It is also a time to accelerate the shift in responsibility to Afghan forces and for a drawdown of a significant number of United States troops from Afghanistan.”
Congressional Record, June 21, 2011June 21, 2011 27 Senators sign a letter stating: “We urge you to follow through on the pledge you made to the American people to begin redeployment of U.S. forces from Afghanistan this summer, and to do so in a manner that is sizable and sustained, and includes combat troops as well as logistical and support forces.”
Letter circulated by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Tom Udall (D-NM)  and also signed by Senators Max Baucus (D-MT), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Al Franken (D-MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Patty Murray (D-WA), Rand Paul (R-KY), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Merkley press release, June 15, 2011

204 House Members vote for a withdrawal timetable:
 On May 26, the House voted 204-215 House vote against the amendment offered by Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Walter Jones (R-NC) requiring the President to establish a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan. The amendment produced the most votes thus far in favor of ending the war in Afghanistan.
May 26, 2011

Majority Leader Harry Reid: “The American people have war fatigue. It’s been going on for a long, long time. I think the president was right when he said July 1 there’s going to be a drawdown. He said that a long time ago. And there’s going to be a drawdown. I am confident that it will be one that’s substantial. I certainly hope so . . . The president knows how I feel. I have told him that I hope that there’s a troop withdrawal, one of significance.”
Lehrer News Hour, June 17, 2011

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin: “I believe it will be a significant reduction of American troops, and it should include both combat and support troops,” Levin told reporters, adding that it should be “at least 15,000 by the end of this year. I think the public wants the president to make a significant reduction in troops in July as he said he would do,” Levin added “I think he should stick to the commitment he made that there would be a significant reduction of U.S. forces in July. I think that’s going to be the key issue.”
National Journal Daily AM, June 8, 2011

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry: “The president ought to take advantage of that success and push us in a direction that accelerates the ability of the Afghans” to take over operations, said Kerry (D-Mass.).
Washington Post, June 12, 2011

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Republican Richard Lugar: “It is exceedingly difficult to conclude that our vast expenditures in Afghanistan represent a rational allocation of our military and financial assets.  Our geostrategic interests are threatened in numerous locations, not just by terrorism, but by debt, economic competition, energy and food prices, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and numerous other forces.”
Press release, May 3, 2011

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA): “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to occupy territory … and become defensive, static targets,” he said. “Instead of finding smart ways to fight international terrorism … we were going to be sort of ineluctably drawn into this short war and very long occupation of Iraq. And that model, in some form, also has been used in Afghanistan. It’s a model that probably heartens a lot of the people who wish us ill.”
Politico, May 24, 201

Senator Chris Coons (D-DE): “A substantial drawdown of forces — which I support — should not be the first step on a course of total disengagement from Afghanistan. Rather, it should mark the beginning of a new, more targeted counter-terrorism strategy that more wisely focuses our military and diplomatic resources on defending America’s security interests.”
Coons OpEd, Delaware New Journal, June 14, 2011

Senator Herbert Kohl (D-WI): “In light of this progress, many Americans are hoping that our forces can soon come home from Afghanistan after a decade of war. I share this desire to begin withdrawing our forces from Afghanistan, beginning with a sizable and sustained reduction in forces this summer.”
Senate Appropriations Committee hearing with Secretary of Defense Gates, June 15, 2011

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV): “We should get out of Afghanistan. We can’t win there. We can’t change the country….Do you want three failed wars in a row? I don’t want to be in those places. And it has a great deal to do with the [federal] budget.”
Charleston Gazette, April 19, 2011

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN): “We are expecting pretty dramatic changes at the end of this fighting season… All of us know that the model we have in Afghanistan is not sustainable for multiple reasons.”
C-SPAN, June 8, 2011

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT): “I cannot emphasize enough the power the president had when he said we’re going to start removing troops in July,” Tester said. “It really put pressure on the Afghans to say, ‘All right, these guys aren’t going to be here forever, we need to step up and take control of our future.’ And I think we need to continue that pressure, and when we have the possibility of removing troops, we ought to be doing it.”
Helena Independent Record, February 6, 2011

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney: “It’s time for us to bring our troops home as soon as we possibly can,” Mitt Romney said during Monday’s presidential debate. “Only the Afghanis can win Afghanistan’s independence from the Taliban,” he said.
Republican presidential debate, June 13, 2011

Republican Presidential candidate John Huntsman: “If you can’t define a winning exit strategy for the American people, where we somehow come out ahead, then we’re wasting our money, and we’re wasting our strategic resources,” Huntsman told Esquire as part of a long profile in its August issue. “It’s a tribal state, and it always will be. Whether we like it or not, whenever we withdraw from Afghanistan, whether it’s now or years from now, we’ll have an incendiary situation . . . Should we stay and play traffic cop? I don’t think that serves our strategic interests.”
Esquire Magazine, June 15, 2011

73% of American public want a significant troop withdrawal:
Do you think the United States should or should not withdraw a substantial number of U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan this summer?

         Should   Should not   No opinion
6/5/11       73         23            4
3/13/11     73         21            5
Washington Post poll, June 2-5, 2011

IRAN  
Saudi suggests ‘squeezing’ Iran over nuclear ambitions
Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal- June 22, 2011
A leading member of Saudi Arabia’s royal family warned that Riyadh could seek to supplant Iran’s oil exports if the country doesn’t constrain its nuclear program, a move that could hobble Tehran’s finances.

U.S. syas Iran firm bypassed sanctions
Chad Bray and Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal- June 21, 2011
Iran’s largest shipping company used a vast network of shell companies to move $60 million through New York bank accounts over the past three years in violation of U.S. trade sanctions, prosecutors said on Monday.

NORTH KOREA
China: North Korea mulling initiatives for economic reform
Ben Blanchard, Reuters UK- June 22, 2011
North Korea is considering whether they need initiatives for economic reform and opening up, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said on Wednesday.

South Korea to develop islands near western border with North Korea
Bomi Lim, Bloomberg- June 22, 2011
South Korea plans to spend 910.9 billion won ($848 million) to develop five islands near the western sea border with North Korea, including the one shelled by Kim Jong Il’s military last year.
The 10-year project is aimed boosting security and improving living conditions on the islands, Prime Minister Kim Hwang Sik’s office said today in a statement on its website.

AFGHANISTAN
Obama to Unveil Plan for Troop Drawdown
Adam Entous, Julian E. Barnes, and Carol E. Lee, Wall Street Journal- June 22, 2011
President Barack Obama will announce Wednesday the first steps in a gradual plan to extract the U.S. from the Afghanistan war, including an initial withdrawal of as many as 5,000 troops next month, defense officials say.

UNITED STATES
Pentagon crosses $1 Trillion threshold in War on Terror spending
Tony Capaccio,Bloomberg-June 21, 2011
The Pentagon says it has spent at least $1 trillion prosecuting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and defending the U.S. homeland, according to newly released Defense Department figures through April 30.

100-to-0 Vote Puts Panetta in Top Post
Carl Hulse, New York Times- June 21, 2011
Leon E. Panetta was confirmed unanimously by the Senate on Tuesday as the new secretary of defense, placing him in charge of the final stage of the withdrawal in Iraq and the Obama administration’s military policy in Afghanistan.

MISSILE DEFENSE
Japan, U.S. To Expand Missile Defense, Cyber Cooperation
Marcus Weisgerber, Defense News- June 21, 2011
The United States and Japan pledged to continue working together on missile defense, cyber and space initiatives, as well as expanding information-sharing and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities.

Raytheon to upgrade Saudi Patriot missiles for $1.7 Billion
Mia Lamar, Dow Jones Newswires- June 21, 2011
Raytheon Co. (RTN) was awarded a $1.7 billion sales contract by the Saudi Arabian government to upgrade the nation’s air and missile defense system. The Patriot defense system, which Raytheon first supplied to Saudia Arabia in the 1990s, is designed to provide protection against advanced air and missile threats.

CHINA
China warns U.S. on South China Sea disputes
Edward Wong, New York Times- June 22, 2011
The Chinese vice foreign minister warned the United States on Wednesday to stay out of the increasingly tense territorial disputes and maritime conflicts in the South China Sea, which has some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and is believed to be rich in oil and natural gas reserves.

(Can be sung to the tune of Where Have All the Cheney’s Gone)

An Open Letter to House Republicans

June 20, 2011

We thank you for your leadership as Congress exercises its Constitutional responsibilities on the issue of America’s military actions in Libya.  We are gravely concerned, however, by news reports that Congress may consider reducing or cutting funding for U.S. involvement in the NATO-led military operations against the oppressive regime of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi.  Such a decision would be an abdication of our responsibilities as an ally and as the leader of the Western alliance.  It would result in the perpetuation in power of a ruthless dictator who has ordered terrorist attacks on the United States in the past, has pursued nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, and who can be expected to return to these activities should he survive.  To cut off funding for current efforts would, in short, be profoundly contrary to American interests.

We share the concerns of many in Congress about the way in which the Obama administration has conducted and justified this operation.  The problem is not that the President has done too much, however, but that he has done too little to achieve the goal of removing Qaddafi from power.  The United States should be leading in this effort, not trailing behind our allies.  We should be doing more to help the Libyan opposition, which deserves our support.  We should not be allowing ourselves to be held hostage to U.N. Security Council resolutions and irresolute allies.

What would be even worse, however, would be for the United States to become one of those irresolute allies.  The United States must see this effort in Libya through to its conclusion.

Success is profoundly in our interests and in keeping with our principles as a nation.  The success of NATO’s operations will influence how other Middle Eastern regimes respond to the demands of their people for more political rights and freedoms.  For the United States and NATO to be defeated by Muammar al-Qaddafi would suggest that American leadership and resolution were now gravely in doubt—a conclusion that would undermine American influence and embolden our nation’s enemies.

In Speaker Boehner’s June 14, 2011, letter to President Obama, he wrote that he believes “in the moral leadership our country can and should exhibit, especially during such a transformational time in the Middle East.”  We share that belief, and feel that now is the time for Congress to exhibit that moral leadership despite political pressures to do otherwise.

Sincerely,

Elliott Abrams
Gary Bauer
Max Boot
Ellen Bork
Scott Carpenter
Liz Cheney
Seth Cropsey
Thomas Donnelly
Colin Dueck
Eric Edelman
Jamie Fly
Reuel Marc Gerecht
John Hannah
William Inboden
Bruce Pitcairn Jackson
Ash Jain
Frederick Kagan
Robert Kagan
Lawrence Kaplan
William Kristol
Robert Lieber
Tod Lindberg
Michael Makovsky
Ann Marlowe
Kurt Volker
Clifford D. May
Joshua Muravchik
Martin Peretz
Danielle Pletka
John Podhoretz
Stephen Rademaker
Karl Rove
Randy Scheunemann
Gary Schmitt
Dan Senor
Michael Singh
Henry D. Sokolski
Marc Thiessen
Kenneth Weinstein
Paul Wolfowitz
R. James Woolsey