Message from the Senate

MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for yielding and for her leadership on a real strategy against terrorism.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this resolution. It contains no plan, no solution, no way forward. I support the Murtha plan, which clearly aims to more strategically engage U.S. forces to redeploy and be ready.

Indeed, the invasion in Iraq has diverted our Nation from the war on terrorism and created a new terrorist training platform. Across the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, United States policy has engendered more hatred, yielding a counter-reaction of more radicalism and protest.

In Egypt, the most populous Arab nation and a key ally in the Middle East and Africa, recent parliamentary elections yielded a quantum leap in representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical anti-Western party. This group now comprises 88 members of their parliament, up nearly 25 percent from 17 in the 2000 election.

In the Palestinian Authority, the peace process with Israel is dead. Rather than parties moving toward peace with Israel, we witness another tragic breakdown as Fatah and Hamas mass in the streets and Israelis and Palestinians shoot and kill with abandon.

Mogadishu, Somalia has just fallen into the hands of Muslim extremists. That failed state is another breeding ground for terrorism.

In Afghanistan more loss of life has resulted this year than at any time since the U.S.-led invasion and President Karzai remains a prisoner of circumstance, unable to move freely without heavily armed guards.

Mr. Speaker, we are not winning the war on terrorism. The situation in Iraq teeters on all-out civil war between the Sunnis and the Shiias.

To win the war on terrorism, the United States must use our military assets wisely, not just robustly. We must transfer policing to Iraqi forces and remove ourselves as a source of friction.

Secondly, we must decouple ourselves from the repressive oil dictatorships that create regional antagonisms there and become energy independent here at home.

And, thirdly, the Palestinian-Israeli standoff must be elbowed to the peace table, because it is a primary lightning rod for unrest across the region.

Our current presence in Iraq is counterproductive in the broader war on terrorism. Meanwhile, diplomatic channels are totally frozen by this administration. Unfortunately, this resolution offers no plan. It offers no solution. It offers no way forward.

This Congress should support the Murtha plan for our military forces, redeploy and be ready.

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