{"id":2034,"date":"2007-07-30T10:58:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-30T16:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/pearce-doesnt-vote-to-oppose-long-term-base-in-iraq\/"},"modified":"2007-07-30T10:58:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-30T16:58:00","slug":"pearce-doesnt-vote-to-oppose-long-term-base-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/pearce-doesnt-vote-to-oppose-long-term-base-in-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"Pearce doesn’t vote to oppose long-term base in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The U.S. House of Representatives<\/a> easily approved last week a resolution that would make clear that the United States<\/st1:country-region> will not establish a military base in Iraq<\/st1:country-region> for the \u201cpermanent\u201d stationing of troops there or attempt to control Iraq<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>\u2019s oil. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Those are hot-button topics among liberals since the White House has recently indicated that President Bush may intend to keep a military presence in Iraq<\/st1:country-region> similar to its presence in South Korea<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>, where American troops have been stationed for more than 50 years. Still, House Resolution 2929<\/a> was uncontroversial enough that it was approved on a vote of 399-24.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The resolution states that the United States<\/st1:country-region>\u2019 policy is \u201cnot to establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq<\/st1:country-region> and not to exercise United States<\/st1:country-region> control of the oil resources of Iraq<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.\u201d It also states that no funds made available by Congress shall be used to establish a permanent base in Iraq<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> or control that nation\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, R-N.M., joined with 23 other representatives to vote against the resolution. In doing so, he was disagreeing with 399 colleagues, including New Mexico Reps. Heather Wilson<\/a>, a Republican, and Tom Udall<\/a>, a Democrat.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In a statement released by his spokesman, Pearce said \u201cthere\u2019s no such thing as a permanent base. Around the world, all of our bases are only there at the invitation of the host country. If they ask us to leave, we leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cEven domestically, we have a base relocation and closure process that routinely moves and closes bases every four or five years,\u201d Pearce said. \u201cFurther, it is the responsibility of the armed forces to decide where they need to set up bases and move troops around the world. Congress has the obligation to fund them or not to fund them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cRegarding the oil issue, I do not know of an attempt ever to use Iraq<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>\u2019s oil for our benefit,\u201d Pearce said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Pearce\u2019s last statement will especially rile liberals who believe the president\u2019s unchanging strategy in Iraq<\/st1:country-region> has to do, at least in part, with the benefit the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> can gain from that nation\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee<\/a>, which has its eyes on Pearce but has not yet jumped into the 2008 campaign against him, attacked Pearce\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis vote just shows how out of touch he is with the people of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>,\u201d DCCC spokesman Fernando Cuevas said. \u201cWhile the American public continues to express their dissatisfaction with the course this administration is taking in Iraq<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>, Pearce continues down the same failed path as this administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Pearce\u2019s vote is further evidence that, as the war continues to lose the support of the American public, Pearce will continue to back the president\u2019s policy. Pearce, at least as indicated by his public statements, is ideologically aligned with the president on this issue and doesn\u2019t intend to jump ship even as other Republicans are doing just that.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see how that affects his 2008 re-election bid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. House of Representatives easily approved last week a resolution that would make clear that the United States will not establish a military base in Iraq for the \u201cpermanent\u201d stationing of troops there or attempt to control Iraq\u2019s oil. Those are hot-button topics among liberals since the White House has recently indicated that President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}