Leadership Quote by Peter DeFazio

A line like this is less policy memo than political tripwire: it forces everyone in the room to declare what the Iraq project is really for. Peter DeFazio’s insistence on “renounce” and the doubled-up “U.S.” is doing deliberate work. It’s not just about bases; it’s about erasing the suspicion that America came to Iraq to stay. “Permanent” is the radioactive word, the one that turns “security” into “occupation” in the public imagination and, crucially, in Iraqi politics.

The specific intent is twofold. Domestically, DeFazio is drawing a hard boundary for an anxious electorate after years of shifting rationales. Renouncing “any interest” is maximalist language aimed at preventing the familiar Washington move: deny empire in speeches, build infrastructure in practice. Internationally, it’s an attempt to deny insurgent narratives their most effective recruiting poster. Nothing inflames armed resistance like the belief that foreign troops aren’t temporary guests but long-term landlords.

The subtext is an indictment of mission creep and of the military-industrial habits that follow it: once bases exist, they justify themselves, creating a default posture of intervention. DeFazio is also signaling respect for Iraqi sovereignty, but in the skeptical register of U.S. politics: we’ll prove it by giving up options, not by promising restraint.

Context matters here: the post-2003 environment where “liberation” rhetoric collided with messy occupation realities. In that moment, permanence wasn’t a logistical detail; it was the difference between exit and empire.