GOP Prepares To Leave Without Holding Administration Accountable On Iraq

GOP PREPARES TO LEAVE WITHOUT HOLDING ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNTABLE ON IRAQ -- (House of Representatives - September 29, 2006)

(Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, despite countless assurances from the President that we are safer now than we were before 9/11, this past week we learned the truth: The world is more dangerous today than it was pre-9/11, and the war in Iraq is the main reason why.

This weekend on ``60 Minutes,'' Bob Woodward will report that our intelligence agencies predict that 2007 is going to be more deadly for American troops than 2006. That is a dire prediction considering that insurgent attacks against our troops are now occurring every 15 minutes.

These reports from our intelligence agencies should serve as a wake-up call to House Republicans who for 3 years have sat on the sidelines neglecting their oversight responsibility of the war in Iraq.

How bad do things have to get in Iraq before this Republican do-nothing Congress actually takes action? When will they finally begin asking questions? When will they finally begin to hold Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the President's War Cabinet accountable for their incompetence?

Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve a Congress that will take its oversight responsibilities seriously. It is time for a change here in Congress, and it is coming this November.

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