WASHINGTON
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) today voted in favor of a bipartisan resolution (S. Con. Res. 2) that opposes President Bushs plan to send 21,000 additional troops to Iraq and offers several recommendations for a different strategy in Iraq. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today voted to report the resolution to the full Senate.

This resolution sends a strong message to President Bush that Democrats and Republicans in Congress are coming together to oppose his plan to escalate the war in Iraq, said Sen. Cardin. I strongly believe that we need to change the course in Iraq so our troops can start coming home. Sending more American troops to Iraq not only puts more of our men and women in harms way, it sends the wrong message to the Iraqi government. We need to make it clear that our presence in Iraq is not open-ended and the Iraqi government needs to take responsibility for the security of Iraq. The President should follow the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group and escalate our diplomatic efforts, not the number of U.S. troops. Iraq is currently in a civil war and we will only win with political and diplomatic solutions, not by flexing our military might.

The Senator voted against the war in Iraq and has repeatedly called on President Bush to present the American people with a plan to start bringing our troops home. In 2002, he voted against the resolution giving the President authority to invade Iraq.

The resolution was originally introduced by Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

Sen. Cardin supports the resolutions objective of seeking greater regional and international support for Iraq, an internationally-sponsored peace and reconciliation process and, most importantly, a timeline for transferring security responsibilities to the Iraqi government and Iraqi Security Forces.