| Washington, DC – Congressman Bill Shuster voted today in favor of legislation that would prohibit the use of taxpayer money to construct permanent U.S. bases in Iraq. Shuster released the following statement after the vote:
“The Democrats promised July would be a ‘month of action’ on Iraq and today’s vote is the second act of their third-rate political theater.
It has never been the policy of our government to construct permanent bases in Iraq or anywhere else in the world. Our bases only exist for as much time as the local government allows them to. However, our enemy, al-Qaeda does want a permanent presence in Iraq to use as a breeding ground to continue their sworn Jihad against us.
This was an empty political maneuver. The United States doesn’t want, nor could we legally have permanent bases in Iraq. Instead of protecting their left flank the Democrat majority should be more concerned with making sure our troops have the money, equipment, and time they need to get the job done and eject al-Qaeda from Iraq.”
For background, since Operation Iraqi Freedom began, the U.S. military has occupied roughly 115 “forward operating bases” for our forces to operate out of throughout Iraq. Of these sites, 52 were transitioned to Iraqi control between February 2005 and March 2007. General David Petraeus, the Commander of Multi-National Forces-Iraq, has plans to transition approximately 60 more sites to Iraqi control.
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