How Kay Votes On: The Invasion of Iraq
Fully Supported The War
Sen. Hutchison has dutifully followed the Bush Administration party line and been completely committed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. She voted in favor of it at every opportunity, according to On The Issues.
She voted "yea" on H.J.Res. 114, authorizing the use of military force against Iraq (passed - Oct. 11, 2002).
She voted "yea" on S. 1689, appropriating an additional $86 billion for military operations in Iraq & Afghanistan (passed - Oct. 17, 2003).
Okay, so lots of people fell for the administration's misleading "intel" about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So it may not be fair to only consider those original votes. But even as late as last year, Sen. Hutchison was still voting to support the Iraq debacle. She voted "nay" on S.Amdt 2519, that would have called on President Bush to establish a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq (failed - Nov. 15, 2005).
Related Issues: Detainees, Corruption
The invasion itself hasn't been the only disaster - it's spun off other problems as well. Corruption in reconstruction and detention of prisoners are two invasion-related issues Sen. Hutchison has done little to address.
She voted "nay" on S.Amdt 2476, that would have established a special Senate committee to investigate contract awards in Afghanistan and Iraq (failed - Nov. 10, 2005).
She voted "yea" on S.Amdt. 1268, which tabled a measure that would have made public the names and charges of those being detained as enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay (passed - Jul 16. 2003)
Won't Meet With Anti-War Protestors
Members of the Dallas Peace Center have tried to meet with Sen. Hutchison numerous times, but have not yet been granted audience. Instead, protestors outside Hutchison's Senate office in Dallas have been arrested.
One example is Beatriz Saldivar, whose nephew was killed in Iraq. On Oct. 21, 2005, she tried - unsuccessfully as always - to meet with Hutchison.
"I have repeatedly asked to speak with Sen. Hutchison and she has disregarded me," Saldivar told [Hutchison's Regional Director, Cynthia] Hall... "I was in Washington in September, and I tried to make an appointment with her, I stayed there all week, and she would not meet with me." Saldivar said that her family has been torn up because of her nephew’s death. Torres’s daughter that he never saw was born last month. Surely, she said, Sen. Hutchison owes Torres’s family the courtesy of a meeting.
While Saldivar wasn't arrested, others haven't been so lucky. Five days later, on Oct. 26, 2005, "Local peace and justice advocates converged at Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's office to mark the 2000th U.S. military death by attempting to talk with the senator's staff:"
Mary Steffenhagen of Fort Worth, attempted to visit the office herself. She was told that she could not enter the building, and when she refused to leave she as summarily arrested...
...Dallas police then issued an order to leave the property. All the demonstrators stepped off the property except Walt Harrison, who said, "I am a constituent. I want to see my senator." As he was being handcuffed he was asked why he was being arrested. "The Dallas police are not letting me see my senator," he replied.
Bottom Line
Kay Bailey Hutchison has fully supported the disastrous, baseless and illegal invasion of Iraq. Along with the rest of the Republican majority, she has steadily led the country into an ill-conceived quagmire, which we'll be paying for - both politically and financially - for generations.
