Video Of Feingold In Iraq War Hearings

There's some good video out of Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), one of the most outspoken critics of the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war, giving his opening statement to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.

To me, the most compelling part of Feingold's statement is when he makes it clear that he believes Congress should use their funding power to not only deny Bush the ability to escalate the war, but to also begin withdrawing troops who are already in Iraq.

"And now Congress must use its main power: the power of the purse to put an end to our involvement in this disastrous war," said Feingold. "And I'm not talking here only about the surge or escalation. It is time to use the power of the purse to bring our troops out of Iraq."

"Over the next several weeks I and, I hope, many of my colleagues will work together to take a hard look at exactly how we should do that, but it is time to use that power… Our troops in Iraq have performed heroically, but we cannot continue to send our nation's best into a war that was started and is still maintained on false pretenses."

You can view the clip at Senator Feingold's site here.