Barbara Lee Hails Momentum in Preventing Permanent Bases

Friday September 29, 2006

Barbara Lee Hails Momentum in Preventing Permanent Bases

(Washington, DC) – For the second time this week Congress has approved a measure designed to bar funds from being used to establish permanent military bases in Iraq, including it in the fiscal year 2007 Defense Authorization bill conference report, which the House approved today.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), who has led Congressional efforts to prevent permanent military bases in Iraq, hailed the House approval of the provision.

“This is a positive step towards establishing that it is US policy that there will be no permanent military presence in Iraq,” said Lee. “Preventing permanent bases helps to take the targets off our troops’ backs and ensures that when our troops come home, ALL of them come home.”

“It is important to recognize that the debate that we have created about permanent bases has been virtually the only substantive discussion Congress has had about the future disposition of U.S. troops in Iraq,” she added.

Earlier this week, the Program on International Policy Attitudes released a poll that found that not only the overwhelming majority of Iraqis want the U.S. to leave, but that the overwhelming majority believes that the U.S. plans to keep permanent bases in Iraq, and that belief is highly correlated with support for attacks on U.S. forces.

Lee introduced legislation in June, 2005 to prevent the establishment of permanent bases that now has the bipartisan support of 86 cosponsors. She offered no-permanent-bases amendments three times and succeeded in having it unanimously accepted into the FY06 supplemental appropriations bill. However, this provision was stripped in conference committee. Her amendment was also the basis of provisions included in the FY07 Department of Defense spending bill and the FY07 State-Science-Justice-State spending bill.