S.Amdt. 698

SA 698. Mr. WARNER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 1591, making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

SEC. 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE CONCERNING IRAQ.

Whereas on the fourth anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the regime of a brutal dictator has been replaced by a democratically elected government in the Arab world;

Whereas, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1723, approved November 28, 2006, “determin[ed] that the situation in Iraq continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security;”

Whereas, over 137,000 American military personnel are currently serving in Iraq, like thousands of others since March 2003, with the bravery and professionalism consistent with the finest traditions of the United States armed forces, and are deserving of the support of all Americans, which they have strongly;

Whereas many American service personnel have lost their lives, and many more have been wounded, in Iraq, and the American people will always honor their sacrifices and honor their families;

Whereas the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, including their Reserve and National Guard organizations, together with components of the other branches of the military, are under enormous strain from multiple, extended deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and these deployments, and those that will follow, will have lasting impacts on the future recruiting, retention and readiness of our nation's all volunteer force;

Whereas Iraq is experiencing a deteriorating problem of sectarian and intra-sectarian violence based upon political distrust and cultural differences between some Sunni and Shia Muslims, concentrated primarily in Baghdad;

Whereas Iraqis must reach political settlements in order to achieve reconciliation, and the failure of the Iraqis to reach such settlements to support a truly unified government greatly contributes to the increasing violence in Iraq;

Whereas the responsibility for Iraq's internal security and halting sectarian violence must rest primarily with the Government of Iraq, relying on the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF);

Whereas the President said on January 10, 2007, that “I've made it clear to the Prime Minister and Iraq's other leaders that America's commitment is not open-ended” so as to dispel the contrary impression that exists;

Whereas it is essential that the Government of Iraq set out measurable and achievable benchmarks and President Bush said, on January 10, 2007, that “America will change our approach to help the Iraqi government as it works to meet these benchmarks;”

Whereas according to Secretary of State Rice, Iraq's Policy Committee on National Security agreed upon a set of political, security, and economic benchmarks and an associated timeline in September 2006 that were (a) reaffirmed by Iraq's Presidency Council on October 6, 2007; (b) referenced by the Iraq Study Group; and (c) posted on the President of Iraq's website;

Whereas the Secretary of State indicated on January 30, 2007 that “we expect the Prime Minister will follow through on his pledges to the President that he would take difficult decisions.”

Whereas the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have testified about, and, or, provided unclassified material to members of Congress on Iraqi commitments and goals.

Whereas Congress acknowledges that the Baghdad Security Plan is in it's initial months and while there are signs of progress, there are also signs of difficulty and uncertainty. Now therefore be it

Resolved that

(1) The United States strategy in Iraq, hereafter, should be conditioned on the Iraqi government meeting 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 Iraqi Government's commitments to the United States, and to the international community, including:

(a) forming a Constitutional Review Committee and completing the Constitutional review;

(b) enacting and implementing legislation on de-Bathification;

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

(d) enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semi-autonomous regions;

(e) enacting and implementing legislation establishing an Independent High Electoral Commission; provincial elections law; provincial council authorities; and a date for provincial elections;

(f) enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty;

(g) enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disbarment program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the constitution of Iraq;

(h) establishing supporting political media, economic, and services committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan;

(i) providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations;

(j) providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions, in consultation with U.S. commanders, without political intervention;

(k) ensuring that the Iraqi Security Forces are providing even handed enforcement of the law against all who break it;

(l) ensuring that, the Baghdad security plan is not providing a safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of their sectarian or political affiliation; as Prime Minister Maliki stated to President Bush.

(m) establishing all of the planned joint security stations in neighborhoods across Baghdad;

(n) increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently;

(o) allocating and spending $10 billion in Iraqi revenues for reconstruction projects, including delivery of essential services, on an equitable basis;

(2) The Iraqi government achieving, or demonstrating satisfactory progress towards achieving these benchmarks should be viewed as the condition for continued United States military and economic involvement in Iraq;

Sec. 2. Reporting Requirements.

A. Report Required on Benchmarks

(1) The Commander, Multi-National Forces-Iraq, in coordination with the United States Ambassador to Iraq, shall submit a report (hereafter known as “the report”), to the Commander of U.S. Central Command not later than July 15, 2007, and every 60 days thereafter. The report shall detail the status of each of the specific benchmarks established in Section 1, and conclude whether satisfactory progress has been made toward meeting the overall benchmarks as defined in Section 1, in a timely manner.

(2) Upon receipt of the report, the Commander of U.S. Central Command shall prepare an assessment of the report. The report and the assessment shall be submitted to the Secretary of Defense not later than July 20, 2007, and every 60 days thereafter.

(3) Upon receipt of the report and assessment, the Secretary of Defense shall, in consultation with the Secretary of State, prepare their independent assessment of and submit the report and all assessments to the Committees on Armed Services; Appropriations; Foreign Relations or International Relations; and Intelligence of the Senate and House of Representatives, not later than August 1, 2007, and every 60 days thereafter.

(4) If the report or any of the assessments fail to indicate satisfactory progress in any benchmark, the President shall submit, within 30 days thereafter, a report to Congress on those benchmarks that failed to achieve satisfactory progress. The Presidents' report shall provide an explanation of why satisfactory progress was not achieved and describe revisions to the January 10, 2007 strategy, that reflect how satisfactory progress will be attained.

(5) The reporting requirement detailed in Section 1227 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 is terminated after a reporting period ending May 31, 2007.

B. Reports on Readiness of the Armed Forces.

(1) Commencing 60 days after the enactment of this Act, the Secretaries of the military services, in coordination with the Chiefs of the Services, shall report to the Committees on Armed Services and Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives, not later than 30 days before the date of embarkation, the deployment of any unit of the Armed Forces of the United States, to include the Reserve Forces and National Guard (hereafter known as “the unit”), outside the United States and its territories, that is not deemed fully mission capable of performing reasonably assigned mission-essential tasks to prescribed standards, under anticipated conditions in the theater of operations, of the supported combatant commander.

(2) Subsequently, the supported combatant commander, in coordination with the Commander of Joint Forces Command, shall assess the risk of the deployment of the unit as significant, high, medium, or low, and specify corrective actions to reduce that level of risk from significant, high, or medium to low to the Secretary of Defense, not later than 20 days before the embarkation of the unit.

(3) Thereafter, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shall forward the aforementioned risk assessment to the Committees on Armed Services and Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives, not later than 10 days before the date of embarkation of the unit, with a statement that the risk associated with the deployment of “the unit” has been mitigated to satisfaction, or that the deployment of “the unit” has been canceled, delayed, or determined to be of such significant importance that deployment of “the unit” is essential and the level of risk of that deployment is vital to national security.