Press Releases

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett Votes “No” on the Iraq Withdrawal Bill

Washington, Jul 12, 2007 -

Congressman Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-6-MD) voted “no” on H.R. 2956, a bill that would force a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Bartlett is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and ranking member of the Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee. The bill passed by a vote of 223 – 201. “I have long argued that a date certain for withdrawal of American troops will do more harm than good,” said Congressman Bartlett. “Giving enemies a target date puts Americans deployed in Iraq in greater danger. The rationale for offering this resolution is weakened by the release of today’s interim report. I have consistently called for benchmarks to measure progress. This interim report shows some progress on important benchmarks since the surge deployment was completed less than three weeks ago. This resolution also ignores the potential that a commitment to withdraw U.S. forces could also endanger the lives of many more Iraqis.”

ICYMI -- Natan Sharansky is a former Soviet dissident who was imprisoned for nine years in the gulag, is chairman of the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies in Jerusalem. He wrote in The Washington Post on July 8, 2007 that, “some leaders continue to play down the gross violations in Iraq under Hussein's republic of fear and ignore the potential for a human rights catastrophe should the United States withdraw…in totalitarian regimes, there are no human rights. Period. For most people, life under totalitarianism is slavery with no possibility of escape. That is why despite the carnage in Iraq, Iraqis are consistently less pessimistic about the present and more optimistic about the future of their country than Americans are. That is why, at a time when many Americans are abandoning the vision of a democratic Iraq, most Iraqis still cling to the hope of a better future. They know that under Hussein, there was no hope. No one can know for sure whether President Bush's ‘surge’ of U.S. troops in Iraq will succeed. But those who believe that human rights should play a central role in international affairs should be doing everything in their power to maximize the chances that it will. A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces could lead to a bloodbath that would make the current carnage pale by comparison.”