S.Amdt. 2970

SA 2970. Mr. KERRY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 1585, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

SEC. __. CONDITIONING OF UNITED STATES STRATEGY IN IRAQ TO IRAQ GOVERNMENT'S MEETING OF POLITICAL BENCHMARKS.

(a) Political Benchmarks.--The United States strategy in Iraq shall be conditioned on the government of Iraq meeting four political benchmarks, as told to members of Congress by the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and reflected in the government of Iraq's commitments to the United States, and to the international community, including:

(1) Forming a Constitutional Review Committee and then completing the constitutional review.

(2) Enacting and implementing legislation on de-Ba'aathification.

(3) Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources of the people of Iraq without regard to the sect or ethnicity of recipients, and enacting and implementing legislation to ensure that the energy resources of Iraq benefit Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Kurds, and other Iraqi citizens in an equitable manner.

(4) Enacting and implementing legislation establishing an Independent High Electoral Commission, provincial elections law, provincial council authorities, and a date for provincial elections.

(b) Independent Assessment.--Not later than 90 days after the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress an independent report setting forth:

(1) the status of the achievement of the benchmarks described in subsection (a).

(2) the Comptroller General's assessment of whether or not each benchmark has been met.

(c) Limited Presence After Reduction and Transition.--If the Comptroller General's report finds that the government of Iraq has not met each of the benchmarks described in subsection (a), the mission of the United States military forces shall immediately be transitioned to (1) protecting United States and Coalition personnel and infrastructure, (2) training, equipping, and providing logistic support to the Iraqi Security Forces, (3) securing Iraq's borders in order to deter intervention and infiltration by Iranian and other foreign forces, and (4) engaging in targeted counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda, al Qaeda affiliated groups, and other international terrorist organizations, and all U.S. forces not necessary to complete such missions shall be redeployed from Iraq not later than twelve months after the date of the enactment of this Act.