Congressman Garamendi on the Libyan Votes
WASHINGTON, DC – Today Congressman John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek, CA), a Member of the House Armed Services Committee, voted to grant President Obama limited authority to prevent a massacre of innocent civilians in Libya. He also voted against a bill that would have stripped funding from the Libya intervention. Congressman Garamendi issued the following statement:
"As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, I take our country’s responsibility to protect innocent men, women, and children very seriously. Nearly seven decades ago, the international community made a pledge: never again will we stand idly by and witness the wholesale slaughter of an innocent people. We haven’t always lived up to this standard, as the people of Rwanda can attest, but it is at the bedrock of American values to lend a helping hand where we can when we can. Our limited engagement in Kosovo, where we ultimately prevented a large scale genocide, shows us a way forward.
"In Libya, Colonel Qaddafi pledged to hunt down Libyan dissenters like ‘rats and cockroaches,’ after they demanded a transition to a more representative form of government. Without the limited intervention of a broad coalition of international forces – including the United States, UN, NATO, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Arab League – he would have succeeded. Indeed, the UN Security Council resolution authorizing limited force cited the international community’s ‘responsibility to protect’ the Libyan people.
"President Obama stopped genocide, and in his rush to prevent mass slaughter, his consultation with Congress was limited. Today I voted to grant President Obama the one-year authority he requested to continue our limited operation in Libya.
"To my friends on the left and the right opposed to our action in Libya, I say this: in terms of the human toll, financial burden, and impact on our relations with allies and adversaries throughout the world, Libya pales in comparison to the war in Afghanistan. In Libya, the United States is engaged in a humanitarian mission that received broad international support – with the Arab League supporting for the first time ever an intervention in an Arab country. This conflict has yet to cost us a single American life, and god willing it will stay that way.
"Meanwhile, the conflict in Afghanistan continues to cost America more than $2 billion a week, and this spring was the deadliest spring for American troops since we entered that country nearly a decade ago. Let’s focus on the big picture: targeting Al Qaeda wherever they take root, keeping our troops safe, and where and when we can, preventing genocide and assisting our fellow world citizens as they aspire to form governments that are more representative and more just. I have my disagreements with President Obama on the war in Afghanistan, but I stand with him in the prevention of the massacre of a Libyan people yearning to breathe free."