Leahy To Vote Against Bogus Supplemental Compromise

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who voted against the original authorization to invade Iraq and who quickly signed on to cosponsor the Feingold-Reid bill, announced to supporters today that he will vote against the "compromise" legislation that will effectively allow George W. Bush to continue his failed course in Iraq.

Saying that he wanted "to take a moment to explain to you why I will be voting against this flawed bill," Leahy said that he simply cannot allow for yet more of a blank check for the president to continue staying the course and getting American troops killed in the Iraqi civil war.

"The Iraq War funding provisions in this bill represent little more than a continuation of the failed status quo -- a continuation that I find unacceptable," said Leahy, in an e-mail to supporters. "The current bill will not begin to redeploy our troops from Iraq, it does not put adequate pressure on the Iraqis to stand up both politically and militarily, and it does not put a stop to President Bush's escalation plan."

"Our engagement in Iraq has been a foreign policy failure of epic proportions. Not only have thousands of Americans lost their lives, tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have as well. Our standing in the world has been diminished, and our weakened influence in the region has compromised our ability to fight terrorism throughout the world."

Leahy joins Russ Feingold (D-WI), Chris Dodd (D-CT), John Kerry (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in announcing that he will vote against the bill and continue the fight to bring U.S. forces home from Iraq.