Our Troops Deserve Better.
John Kerry Votes "No" on Iraq Supplemental.
Statement from John Kerry
The best way to support our troops and take the target off their backs is with a real strategy to win the peace in Iraq - not by throwing $87 billion at George Bush's failed policies. I am voting 'no' on the Iraq resolution to hold the President accountable and force him finally to develop a real plan that secures the safety of our troops and stabilizes Iraq.
The Administration has wasted every opportunity to build an international coalition in Iraq.
With our soldiers dying on a daily basis, the President needs to change course. But rather than putting in place a real plan, he has spent months drifting and zigzagging. Rather than immediately building a real coalition, he has fought to keep unilateral control over reconstruction and governance. Rather than asking for shared sacrifice from Americans - as Senator Biden and I have proposed, he has refused to repeal any of his tax cut for the wealthiest to pay for rebuilding Iraq. Our troops are paying the highest price - and America's hard working families shouldn't have to subsidize President Bush's failure or line the pockets of corporations like Halliburton trying to make a fast buck in Iraq.
America's national security requires a muscular strategy that brings freedom and prosperity to post-war Iraq, stability to the region, and advances our basic values and ideals. And I will gladly and proudly vote for any proposal this President offers that protects the troops and provides an effective plan to win the peace.
But I oppose spending $87 billion - at the expense of health care, education and domestic priorities here at home - on a strategy that does not protect the troops, and does not make America safer.
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