Senate Appropriators Cut Funds For Building Long Term Bases - April 6, 2006
Senate appropriators this week said the United States should not establish permanent military bases in Iraq and cut millions of dollars in funding for long-term military construction projects-from the emergency supplemental funding bill. The Senate Appropriation Committee action on Tuesday follows a vote by the House last month to prohibit the use of new funds to enter into basing rights agreements with the government of Iraq .
“The Senate Appropriations Committee vote this week sends a clear signal to the people of Iraq, to the international community, and to the people of this country that the United States does not intend to permanently occupy Iraq,” said Mary Trotochaud, who directs the Iraq Peace Campaign at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). “ These actions are the first clear signal that the United States does not intend to maintain an enduring military presence .”
FCNL, a Quaker lobby which is the oldest registered religious lobby in Washington, has been working for more than a year to persuade Congress to declare “It is the policy of the United States to withdraw all U.S. military troops and bases from Iraq.” Trotochaud welcomed the Senate Appropriations Committee declaration, written into the language of a report accompanying the $107 billion emergency supplemental funding legislation, that states “It is the current policy of the United States to establish no permanent military bases in Iraq.”
Trotochaud, who lived in Iraq for two years before joining the staff of FCNL last year, is in regular contact with people in that country. She said that many Iraqis do not believe that the U.S. military will ever withdraw from their country. “The Senate Committee vote, following the House action, is an important step toward clarifying U.S. intentions in Iraq,” she added.
The supplemental funding request approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee will go before the full Senate later this month.
The Friends Committee on National Legislation is a non- partisan Quaker lobby in the public interest that represents 26 Yearly Meetings of the Religious Society of Friends (called Quakers). FCNL speaks for itself and like-minded individuals. Working with a network of constituents in every congressional district in the United States, FCNL seeks to bring the concerns, experiences and testimonies of Friends to bear on national policy decisions. For more information: http://www.fcnl.org
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