Barbara Boxer: “This Senate must not be a rubberstamp for any administration, especially when our constituents are getting killed. We…”

“This Senate must not be a rubberstamp for any administration, especially when our constituents are getting killed. We are here to speak for the people. Now, my colleague from Texas says we need to take a stand for freedom--we need to take a stand for freedom--and I agree with her. However, once we allow the Iraqis, with our Armed Forces protecting them every step of the way, to have three elections--three elections-- to be able to draw up a constitution, to have the ability to self-govern, we can't force them to do that. It is true that there is al-Qaida there. Al-Qaida, according to our own military, is responsible for 15 percent of the violence--15 percent--and it is ugly violence, it is horrific violence, and we should go after it. After all, al-Qaida cells didn't exist in Iraq--I have the document to prove it--until we went in. We have been a recruiting tool. Unfortunately, this policy has been the recruiting tool. I have the documentation from the State Department that showed right before 9/11 how many cells there were in each country. Iraq wasn't even mentioned. But they are there now, and we need to get them, and that is part of the Levin-Reed amendment: to change the mission to go after them. A fight for freedom? If people don't want freedom, can we force them to want freedom? If people decide to kill their neighbor, what are we going to do?”