Democrats Criticize Bush Iraq Policy

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By Kent Klein

Washington
26 July 2008
Democratic U.S. Senator Jack Reed, who recently accompanied likely
presidential nominee Barack Obama to Iraq and Afghanistan, is calling
the Republican strategy in Iraq a "blank check" that America cannot
afford. President George Bush, meanwhile, says he is eager to sign a
bill to triple U.S. spending to fight AIDS and other diseases in Africa
and worldwide. VOA's Kent Klein reports from Washington.    

In the Democrats' weekly radio address, Senator Reed said the Republicans' plan for Iraq is open-ended and too expensive.  

"At
a time when the war in Iraq costs $10 billion each month, Americans are
paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, and our economy is struggling, we
cannot continue down the path that President Bush and Senator McCain
propose: writing blank check after blank check."

Reed, a
Democrat from the Northeastern state of Rhode Island, said his party's
alternative would carefully move U.S. combat troops out of Iraq and
have them work in counter-terrorism and train Iraq's military.

"Make
no mistake: This is a plan that seizes on the progress and sacrifices
our troops have made in Iraq, and it recognizes the desire of the Iraqi
people to take control of their own destiny," he said.

Reed and
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska went with Obama on a six-day
trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait that ended this past week.

Obama
says he will try to withdraw combat troops from Iraq over 16 months if
he is elected. Iraqi leaders gave the plan conditional support when
they met with Obama in Baghdad.

President Bush, in his weekly
radio address, said he would be "honored" to sign a bill to provide $48
billion to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world. It
would expand the current plan, called PEPFAR, which Mr. Bush said has
been very successful.

"When we first launched this program
five and a half years ago, the scourge of HIV/AIDS had cast a shadow
over the continent of Africa. Only 50,000 people with AIDS in
sub-Saharan Africa were receiving antiretroviral treatment," he said.
"Today, PEPFAR is supporting treatment for nearly 1.7 million people in the region. PEPFAR has allowed
nearly 200,000 African babies to be born HIV-free."

After
months of compromise, Republicans and Democrats in both houses of
Congress have voted to approve the expanded program, which Mr. Bush
says will do even more good in Africa.

"The new legislation that
I will sign next week will build on this progress," he said. "We will
expand access to lifesaving anti-retroviral drugs. We will help prevent
millions of new HIV infections from occurring. And we will also
bolster our efforts to help developing nations combat other devastating
diseases like malaria and tuberculosis."

In his radio address,
the President also praised the use of U.S. foreign assistance to
promote democracy, free trade and human rights, and to fight hunger.

 


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