Robert Byrd

Mr. BYRD

Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair. Yes, I am glad to yield to the Senator.

Mr. BYRD. Right.

Mr. BYRD. In essence, the Senator is precisely correct.

Mr. BYRD. Yes.

Mr. BYRD. They are entitled to know. They are employed and they are entitled to have their expectations met. Here we are with our men and women in Iraq. They are there like sitting ducks. It is like a shooting gallery. They are in an area I am sure we would find very difficult to live in. We will be talking more about reasons why they were told they were going and about the problems with certain intelligence that had an impression, I am sure, a persuasive impression on some of the Members of Congress who voted to give this President the power to send our men and women into harm's way, but we will save that for another day.

Mr. BYRD. What I am trying to do is make it possible for these men and women who are in the Guard and Reserve units to return home to their children, their families, their wives, their mothers, their fathers, their jobs, their communities. Communities have been hit hard in this country. Communities have been hit hard in West Virginia. These men and women answered the call. They have served well. They have demonstrated great courage, bravery, and patriotism. Why should we not keep our word to these people? Why should we not be up front with them?

Mr. BYRD. Yes.

Mr. BYRD. The men and women are being paid their salaries, even if they are from West Virginia. If they were all from West Virginia, they would be paid their salaries. We are talking about the additional costs, the incremental costs, and how much it costs this country to wage war in Iraq per month. We are not talking about the salaries. They get paid no matter where they are. We are talking about the additional costs of Iraq. Let us be clear about that. Additional costs are almost $1 billion a day for Iraq.

Mr. BYRD. One billion dollars a week. That was a misstatement. I know better than that--$1 billion a week.

Mr. BYRD. Yes.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BYRD. Absolutely. The American people are entitled to know that. They are going to pay the bill.

Mr. BYRD. Yes.

Mr. BYRD. And it should not be based on unsubstantiated----

Mr. BYRD. So-called evidence that is produced by the intelligence agencies of another country, another state.

Mr. BYRD. The administration misled the American people when it tried to leave the impression that the war on terrorism is engaged in by--in other words, that Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida could be linked. That has not been shown to be a fact. And the American people, according to the polls I read some time ago, seemed to be half of the belief that those who took the planes into the Twin Towers were Iraqis. The truth is, not one of those hijackers of planes flown into the Twin Towers on 9/11-- not one of those hijackers was an Iraqi, not one. Not one was from Iraq. So where is the link? Where is the link?

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the Chair for his consideration and courtesy. Our National Guard and the Reserves of each of our military services have become more than a source of manpower during times of national crisis. Members of the Reserve components have become an indispensable tool to carry out military operations and homeland security missions. As of last week, there were 204,100 Guard and Reserve personnel on active duty. Some are stationed within the United States, performing homeland security missions. Many are deployed overseas, in foreign lands, thousands of miles from home, to places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Since September 11, 2001, we have activated more Guard and Reserve personnel than at any time since the Korean war but countless reservists, especially those who are now serving in Iraq, have not even been told when their deployment will end. Nobody knows when they will return home to their families, their friends, and their home communities. Adding to the uncertainty, some Reserve units that are now being activated are simply being told to prepare to deploy for 1 to 2 years. This is no way to treat our National Guard and Reserve forces. How would Senators like to be treated like that? Are we keeping our citizen soldiers away from their jobs and their homes for too long? Are we? There are a growing number of West Virginians who say yes. My office has received an increasing number of letters, phone calls, and e-mails from West Virginians asking when their loved ones who serve in the Reserve components will be coming home. How long? How long will that vacant chair be at the dinner table? How long will that husband, that father, be away from home, unable to carry that child to bed and tuck it under the cover at night? How long, Mr. Rumsfeld, I ask? Some of the reports in these communications are very alarming. Senators read their mail as I read mine. Other Senators, I am sure, are getting the same question from those who are living there in the face of danger every second of every minute of every hour of every day, in the hot sands, 130 degrees, 120 degrees, 110 degrees. There they are. All of these letters express a deep frustration with the length of deployment of National Guard men and women and other Reserve units. A number of troops and their families have expressed desperation at trying to get any sort of information about when their units will be returning to the United States, and it is about the same frustration that we as their elected representatives are getting when we ask questions of this administration to appear before our committee. After reviewing what some of these units have gone through, I can see why people are frustrated. Let us take the case of one engineering unit from West Virginia. After shipping out in January 2003, this unit advanced deep into Iraq, along with front-line fighting forces. During the war, they bridged a river under heavy Iraqi fire. I have several reports that members of this unit are able to call home only once every several weeks, and that now they are only helping to haul Iraqi ammunition. This unit has not been given a date to return to the United States, and rumors are now circling that they will remain in Iraq until January 2004, until the snow falls in West Virginia. Another National Guard unit has struggled through back-to-back-to- back deployments. This unit was mobilized for State duty in response to flooding in West Virginia in the summer of 2001. After September 11, this unit spent 1 year in Federal duty performing homeland security missions. After 3 months' rest, the unit was again called to duty and this time sent to the Persian Gulf region in February 2003, where they remain to this day. There has been no word, none, on when this unit will return home. Hear me, Senators. One of my constituents wrote about her husband who was deployed to the Persian Gulf in December 2002, told he would return as soon as the war was over. After the President made his visit to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and gave his speech under the giant banner which read ``Mission Accomplished,'' this reservist still has not been sent home. In fact, he was given five different dates to return to West Virginia and then sent to another country in the region with the possibility of extending his deployment to September. To add insult to injury, this reservist had to pay for his own food and lodging while he was awaiting new orders after the war. Hear me. Hear me, Mr. President. These stories should not come as a complete surprise to my colleagues. I am confident every Senator has been receiving mail with similar reports of deployments with no end, unclear missions, shortages in supplies, and countless other problems. I have read similar problems in the newspaper about members of the Active-Duty Forces. This morning, there is an article in the Los Angeles Times about another delay in the homecoming of the war-weary 3rd Infantry Division. Less than a week after Secretary Rumsfeld announced to the Armed Services Committee that this division would be home by September, 10,000 of these soldiers have now been told to prepare to stay in Iraq indefinitely, an equal number of that army of Greeks which was led by Xenophon back home after the war, after the Battle of Cunaxa. Ten thousand have now been told to prepare to stay in Iraq indefinitely. These troops ought to have the chance to come home, too. There are two reasons why I am particularly concerned about the long deployments of the Guard and Reserve. First, the National Guard has important responsibilities to their own States. Right now, this very minute, West Virginia has all of its Guard and Reserve engineer units deployed overseas, along with all of their earthmovers, their dump trucks, their equipment. If the summer storms cause more flooding and mudslides in the West Virginia hills, who is Governor Wise going to go to for help? We have watched those storms sweep over the mountains of West Virginia and come down those rugged, ragged, steep slopes into the valleys and cause terrible floods to come rushing down, wiping out lives and property. Who is Governor Wise going to go to for help? The engineers of the West Virginia National Guard cannot answer the call from the hot sands of Iraq. My State would either have to rely on expensive contractors to recover from the storms or wait 2 or 3 days for National Guard units from neighboring States to respond. West Virginians need our National Guard in West Virginia. Second, members of the Guard and Reserve are part-time soldiers. They are proud to serve their country but they did not sign up to serve full-time duty. We must exercise greater discretion when mobilizing the reserves just as we did decades ago. According to the Congressional Research Service, from 1945 to 1989, there were only four involuntary callups of Reserve Forces. In 1945, I was in Florida, welding in the shipyard to the end of World War II. According to the Congressional Research Service, from that date 1945 to 1989, there were only four involuntary callups of reservists. Since then, there have been six involuntary deployments. It is unreasonable to dip into the Guard and Reserve so frequently, to pull those men and women away from their civilian careers and away from their families and expect them to serve overseas with no indication of when their mission will end. There are serious defects from protracted deployments of the National Guard and the Reserve. There is growing frustration, I am telling you. It is growing. The frustration is there and it is growing. Hear me, Mr. President, down at the other end of the avenue. Hear me, Mr. Rumsfeld. Hear me, Senators. That frustration is growing. Growing frustration among members of the Guard and Reserves mean that many troops may finally elect to take their hard-earned retirement. Many junior personnel are likely to decide they do not want to put their families through months or even years of hardship again and they will choose not to reenlist once their duty has been completed. As we speak, unit commanders are bracing for a heavy loss of personnel once the deployed units are rotated home. The time has come for Congress to say: Enough is enough. Let us put an end to open-ended and back-to-back deployments of the National Guard and Reserve. Our part-time troops need to get back to their homes. They need to get back to their families. They need to get back to their full-time jobs. That is why I offer an amendment to limit the involuntary deployment of National Guard and Reserve personnel to 6 months for any single overseas deployment and not more than 1 deployment in any 12-month period. When we send the National Guard to peacekeeping missions in the Balkans, they are overseas for 6 months. Why should we ask our reservists to serve longer in Iraq or Afghanistan? Why should we ask our reservists to put up with back-to-back deployment? Secretary Rumsfeld announced this week that he is seeking long-term changes to reduce dependence on the involuntary mobilization of National Guard and Reserves for not more than 1 year out of every 6 years. This is a commendable action, and we need to take a look at the long-term structure of our Armed Forces. But Secretary Rumsfeld's proposed changes do nothing to address the problems our reservists and their families are facing today. My amendment will make an immediate impact on the problem of open- ended deployments for the National Guard and the Reserves. My amendment will make the Defense Department tell our reservists when they will be coming home because no funds in this bill may be spent to keep a Guard or Reserve unit overseas for more than 6 months. We need to start rotating our Reserve Forces back home. Right now, there are 204,100 Reserve personnel who are not at their civilian jobs. These absences are leaving huge gaps in private businesses and essential government services. In West Virginia, 10 percent of the State police have been called to active duty. Countless employers across the country are working shorthanded, waiting for the day that one of their employees will return home from their service to our country. Families are struggling to make up the income lost by having a provider receive modest paychecks from the Pentagon as opposed to the good pay of civilian careers, such as doctors, lawyers, coal miners, teachers, or even plumbers. One can only wonder how much the endless cycle of deployments has affected our economy over the last 2 years. But it is clear that we need these part-time members of the military back in our communities. My amendment would allow us to tell the members of the National Guard and the Reserve that they will return home within 6 months of being sent overseas. Congress should act in order to provide a measure of stability to the deployment our reservists are facing. We should give the same measure of stability to their families and their employers. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. I send it to the desk.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, while the Senate is awaiting Mr. Stevens' amendment, let me read some excerpts from some of my constituents. I referred to letters from my constituents during my comments on the amendment which I offered. Here is a constituent who writes as follows: I am writing to express some of my concerns with so many of our West Virginia guardsmen and women deployed. I am under the impression that the duty of the National Guard and Air National Guard is to fill in and help the active duty in times of need. Many of our West Virginia Guard have been deployed for quite a while now, but it seems as though very few have come home yet. The combat portion of the war seems to be nearing an end, and a couple of months have passed for supplies and human aid to reach the people of Iraq. It seems to me that our Guards men and women have fulfilled their duty and should be sent home soon. A recent severe flooding in our State could use the help of service men and women here at home. I feel that our West Virginia Guards men and women have contributed their portion of duty to this war for the time being and deserve to come home now and begin rotations with other units to cover the needs of our active duty overseas. I do not want to see our State suffer during this time of need for their services here. I am very proud of our service members within our State because I believe they do an excellent job for us as a State and for the Nation. They are always prepared to perform any tasks they are called to do. I personally believe that we can use their services here at home for the time being and that they have accomplished their duties overseas. I wanted to explain my concerns to you about the need for our Guard men and women to return home soon. From another letter I present these excerpts: I am writing asking for your intervention and help in the swift return to the United States for my son's unit serving in Iraq. His unit has had no real mission since it was sent to Iraq. He mentions his unit, which I will not mention here. He says: They have been pumping fuel which is not fit for use in trucks or planes. Most of the time, they end up pumping it on the ground just to settle the dust. They have been in the very dangerous sections of Iraq, north and east of Baghdad. At a family support meeting, we were told that the soldiers are now being rationed water--one 20-ounce bottle a day. They have no way of communicating with us back home. Their food is limited and they are living in extremely miserable conditions. We were urged to contact you for help. Mail is not getting to them and we rarely receive mail from them. They are not part of the rebuilding of the country. They are not involved in any constructive activity--only the danger of being in convoys and the sniper fire which has been reportedly happening regularly. This war is not over, as our President continuously tells the Nation. Our soldiers are not home. Please help. My son chose to serve his country and for this I am very proud. But this mission has gone into some bizarre and impossible conditions for our sons and daughters. Please help bring them home soon. Another letter is as follows, and I will excerpt certain paragraphs: As you are aware from my last letter that these men have been deployed for quite a long time, they were gone for a year with the last deployment, as well as State duty for floods and now this deployment. For this deployment, these men have been deployed since February of this year, and here we are already in the middle of May. They were sent overseas without any real kind of indication as to when they will return home. I have gotten some form of answer [from a certain office in the service] that the current policy is for the men to be deployed for 6 months overseas. However, that is not any guarantee either. We are still looking at 2 years of deployment for these men. I just find it so hard to believe that there is no one out there that can help get these men home before that timeframe. I don't understand why it can't be a total of 6 months. There are many family members, including mothers and fathers, of these soldiers who would be very grateful to you if you can make this happen for us. Another letter: On December 1, 2002, my husband [she writes his name, which I shall not divulge] was deployed for the war in Iraq, and he was told that he would return to continue in his normal career when the war was over. Since then, he has been scheduled to return to the United States on five occasions. She gives the dates. He is still in Germany. He is having to pay for his meals and a hotel room, while awaiting a flight somewhere in Africa, as directed by his commander, although there are no legal or valid orders to do so. As of today, my husband has been deployed, mobilized, 200 days. His orders state his deployment is not to exceed 179 days. . . . My husband is a West Virginia National Guard soldier who has been deployed over 6 months, who by regulation should have been redeployed to his home station before being assigned to a new theater, as stated in his orders. . . . Morale is at an all-time low for my husband, myself, and our family, and all the soldiers and families I have spoken to. Anything you could do to make this situation right would be so greatly appreciated than I could possibly let you know. Please help me get my soldier home. It was signed by his wife. Mr. President, I will not go further in reading letters, but I have many of them. I yield the floor.

Mr. BYRD. I agree with that statement, and I think the administration ought to tell these people how long they are going to stay over there. They are not told they are going to be over there just 6 months. They are not told they will be there 9 months or a year. This administration has failed to tell our people, who are put in harm's way by this administration's policy of preemptive strikes, what this administration intends. Congress has not been told how long these people are going to be there, what are the costs. We hear every day--the President spoke on the Abraham Lincoln with a sign, a banner, fluttering overhead, ``mission accomplished.'' The mission has not been accomplished. What was the mission? I am not sure we know what the mission was. I appreciate the statements and the questions by the Senator from Nevada. I appreciate also the words of the distinguished Senator from Alaska. He is a very reasonable man and a reasonable legislator. We talk about a study, but we study things to death around here. We need to act, and that is what I am trying to do. I am trying to bring some succor, comfort, relief, and satisfaction to the families of our Guard and reservists who are waiting the return of those men and women.

Mr. BYRD. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. BYRD. The distinguished Senator said the reservists should be deployed for 180 days.

Mr. BYRD. That is what my amendment says.

Mr. BYRD. Is there a final deadline for this commission to report?

Mr. BYRD. I am afraid our guards men and women will have to serve a long time. Many of them have already been serving a long time, in their estimation. They will have to serve a much longer time if they wait the appointment of the commission and then the rendering by that commission. I see its first meeting will not be later than 30 days after the date on which all members of the commission have been appointed.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, may I say to my distinguished friend, I don't worry. He can get excited as many times as he wishes. I have excited many people in my time around here, before the Senator from Alaska came here. He can get excited all he wishes. I will be glad to wait while he gets excited again, if he would like. He reminds me of the pharisee and the publican who went up into the tower. The publican said, ``Oh, Lord, I don't do what this man does. I don't do as he does. I give my tithes. I give one-tenth of all I earn.'' And he went on to talk about his attributes. The other poor man in the tower said, ``Oh, Lord. Forgive me. I am a sinner.'' So don't point to Clinton, when the Senator talks to me--or to any other President. I am talking about this administration. We can't excuse this administration because of something some other administration may have done. The people on that side are good at that. Many of them are always pointing out what we did, what Clinton did, or what this one did, or what that one did. That time is past. We can't excuse our own sins on the basis of the sins of others. I am talking about this President, this administration, your administration, your Secretary of Defense. You can stand up and defend him all you wish, my friend. And I shouldn't say ``you.'' I shouldn't speak in the second person under the Senate rules. Maybe I got a little excited also. But the Senator isn't going to run that old fish along the side of me. He can get excited all he wants. He is noted for his temper. Temper is a good thing. We all have some of it. But I am saying here that when we ask questions of his friend, the Senator from Alaska's friend, Mr. Rumsfeld, we get treated cavalierly, and many times get a lecture. It is about time we get rid of that kind of treatment. Secretary Rumsfeld, with all due respect to him, wasn't elected by the American people to that job he has today. He was appointed to it. He was confirmed in it by this Senate. I was not appointed to anything. So let's don't attempt to respond to what I hope were sincere questions here by pointing to what a previous administration may have done. I did not agree with everything that happened in the previous administration. The supplemental requested by the Clinton administration is in no way appropriate to the cost of Iraq. Bosnia and Kosovo were minuscule in comparison to the cost of Iraq. Let's talk about Iraq, and let's talk about this administration. We have to deal with the problems that confront the Senate today. I am not going to ask my constituents to settle for a study. We need to act. And we Senators have a duty to vote on my amendment. When we talk about a supplemental, that is a way to--and I speak always with great reverence to my friend, Senator Stevens; and he is my friend, he is going to be my friend, and I am his, but this is a way to hide costs from the American people, huge costs that can be anticipated, and that are driven by policy decisions made in this White House. There is no reason for a supplemental request in this instance. Congress is not an ATM machine. This White House wants to be accountable to no one. We have a responsibility to the taxpayer to exercise oversight over these monies. I have nothing else I wish to say at this point. I yield the floor.