Mark Udall: “I will vote for these amendments today. Taken together, they provide necessary funding for our troops, set the stage for…”

“I will vote for these amendments today. Taken together, they provide necessary funding for our troops, set the stage for a responsible strategy of phased disengagement in Iraq, and address domestic needs and global concerns. The war funding will pay for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq for the rest of this year and half of 2009. I support this because it will make it possible to provide the equipment, ammunition, fuel, and other supplies needed by our brave men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who have shown such extraordinary skill, determination and endurance in answering their call to service. I opposed the Bush Administration's rush to war in Iraq, and voted against the resolution that authorized the president to send our armed forces into that country on the theory that this was necessary in order to deprive the Saddam Hussein regime of weapons of mass destruction. So, I understand why some of my constituents who also opposed the war want Congress to reject this funding measure. And I could not agree more that the record of the current Administration demonstrates an enormous failure of leadership and that we desperately need new leadership that will bring to a close our open-ended military engagement in Iraq and will refocus on the very urgent tasks of reducing the terrorist threats in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”