Tom Vilsack on War & Peace

	Tom Vilsack on War & Peace Democratic IA Governor

National Guard too busy in Iraq handle natural disasters

As governor, I had a responsibility to take care of the National Guard. Our National Guard has been underminded by this process. Talk to any governor in the country and you'll find that the equipment needs of this Guard are not being met. Natural disasters, hurricanes, floods, you name it -- the National Guard is unable to respond as adequately as they were three or four years ago. Source: 2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Carson City Nevada , Feb 21, 2007

The war needs to be ended now, not in 6 months or 6 years

I was giving a speech. And this little fellow came up to me afterwards -- he's five years old -- and he asked me if a hundred more troops in Iraq would make a difference. I said, "I don't think a hundred more troops in Iraq would make a difference." He said, "What about a thousand more troops?" I looked down at this little fellow and I said "a thousand more troops will not make a difference." And then this little fellow looked at me and he said, "I'm frightened every day." And he walked away.

I'm here today because that's not my America and it's not your America. Five-year-olders should not be frightened in this country. And so I want to challenge every single one of you and ask the simple question: What have you done today to end this war in Iraq? It needs to be ended now, not six days from now, not six months from now, not six years from now, it needs to be ended now! And it's up to you.

Source: 2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Carson City Nevada , Feb 21, 2007

Congress should remove funding for the war

Q: How do you end the war?

A: Congress takes the authority they have under the Constitution, and the moral authority that we expect them to show, and we say to the president, "Mr. President, we're no longer going to fund this war."

We're in the middle of a civil war inside a civil war. It is not going to be responded to and answered militarily. It's a political solution that is required, and only the Iraqis themselves have the power and the capacity to do it. As long as we are in the middle of this, that political resolution is actually being sidestepped; it is being delayed; it is not being enhanced by our presence there.

If we have troops to take anyplace or put anyplace in the world, let's put them back in Afghanistan and let's get the job done that we were supposed to do a number of years ago. Let's find bin Laden. Let's hold those folks who hurt us responsible.

Source: 2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Carson City Nevada , Feb 21, 2007

Congress should stop funding U.S. fighting in Iraq

Tom Vilsack sought to separate himself from his presidential rivals today by urging Congress to stop funding US fighting in Iraq. "Those in Congress who voted for the war, those in Congress who have voted to continue the war, and those in Congress who have funded the war, can surely vote to end the war," Vilsack told members of the Democratic National Committee.

Vilsack's comments made him the first major presidential candidate to urge Congress to use its spending power under the Constitution to bring U.S. fighting in Iraq to an end. "Congress has the constitutional responsibility and a moral duty to cut off funding for the status quo," said Vilsack. "Not a cap--an end. Not eventually--immediately."

The former governor still supports keeping a U.S. troop presence in the northern Kurdish part of the country in an effort to dissuade Iran from moving into any power vacuum created by the end of U.S. military engagement in central Iraq.

Source: 2016 Veepstakes: ABC News, "Cut Off Funding" , Feb 3, 2007

Get troops out of harm's way in Iraq

Vilsack says he would like to see troops out of harm's way in Iraq and Iraqis take more responsibility for their own country, a position shared by nearly everyone in America except John McCain and a few others who want to send in more troops. Source: Perry Bacon Jr. in Time Magazine , Nov 30, 2006