Here is the opening statement by floor manager and Senate President Jack Kibbie (D-Emmettsburg) on SR 15, which had 28 of 30 Democrats as co-sponsors (Rob Hogg and Steve Warnstadt didn’t sign on):

You can read the full text of his statement below the fold.

I admit, I didn’t track the debate or listen to it (one of the problems with being a college student is that you have a lot of stuff to do), but on a voice vote, the resolution passed the Iowa Senate.  With a voice vote, there isn’t a total count of supporters or those in the opposition, but it would have passed anyway with at least 28 Yea votes thanks to the Democratic sponsors.  Iowa’s Senate is now the third legislative body in the country to pass an anti-escalation resolution.

Statement by Senate President Jack Kibbie

Today I’m asking you to oppose President Bush’s plan to escalate the war in Iraq.  The end of the war has to start somewhere, and stopping President Bush’s plan to send in more troops is a beginning.

This war has lasted too long.  Setting aside arguments about how the war started, we accomplished our goals some time ago.

To be specific, there weren’t weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein is no longer in power.

What happens next in Iraq?  I don’t know.  But I do know that Iraq’s civil war is not going to be settled by the Iowa National Guard.

It is time to start bringing the troops home, and it is certainly time to stop sending more to Iraq.

I fought in the Korean War.  I remember when President Eisenhower was elected promising to bring the troops home by Christmas.  He missed that goal by only six months.

I wish we had more people like President Eisenhower in our top positions of leadership today.  Because the war in Iraq is also not going to end just the way we want it, no matter how long it lasts or how many Iowa troops are sent there.

Why should Iowa Senate take a stand on this issue?

Because the people of Iowa want their elected leaders to do everything they can to end this war.  Because this war has cost Iowans too much money and too many lives.

We ask so much of soldiers and their families.  My daughter is a Captain in the Texas Air Guard.  She was recently at the dedication of a new medical center to help veterans returning from Iraq.  This center will be working with 800 soldiers who have lost a limb in Iraq.  500 had lost two limbs.

I support this resolution today because we are asking too much of our military.  Enough is enough.

We’ve done a few things in the Legislature to help soldiers and their families.  We can be proud of that.

But the best thing we can for them is to help bring this war to an end.

This resolution will help do that and I ask you to vote for it.