The Iraq War
THE IRAQ WAR -- (House of Representatives - September 25, 2006)
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Schwarz of Michigan). Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend the New York Times published an article entitled ``Spy Agencies say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat.'' The article goes on to describe an April 2006, a National Intelligence Estimate which reports the consensus of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the September 11 attacks.
The NIE report concludes that the radical Islamic movement has expanded from a core of al Qaeda operatives to include a new class of ``self-generating'' cells inspired by al Qaeda's leadership, but without any direct connection to Osama bin Laden or his top lieutenants, which will be difficult to monitor and disrupt. One official quoted in the article says ``that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse.''
Mr. Speaker and Members, what are we doing? What is this administration doing, and what is this American President thinking about? He is sending more troops to Iraq. The Army announced today that it has extended the combat tours of about 4,000 soldiers who normally would be returning home and is considering sending more combat units to Iraq in order to meet the needs in Iraq. Many of the troops in Iraq are on their second and even third deployment to Iraq. The additional troops are necessary because of the sectarian violence that encompasses much of the country. Many experts have concluded that Iraq is in a civil war.
Mr. Speaker and Members, the President of the United States has said more than once that we are not getting out of Iraq, that we will stand down when the Iraqis stand up, and they would have you believe that we are training Iraqi soldiers and that they are going to take over the responsibility of securing that country.
It is not happening, Mr. Speaker and Members. As a matter of fact, some of the Iraqi soldiers that have been trained are abandoning our soldiers in the middle of conflict. I read an account just a few days ago where our American soldiers got in the middle of a confrontation of a battle, I think, between Sunnis and Shiites, and they were watched by the Iraqi soldiers who were with them who literally stepped back and let the American soldiers be responsible for trying to resolve that fight that was going on.
We hear stories not only about Iraqi soldiers who abandoned our soldiers but who are really inside, being trained by us, with American taxpayer dollars being spent on training them when they simply turn on us. They are not with us to begin with. They are there to spy on us, and they are undermining us.
For God's sake, what are we doing? This occupation is not only causing the deaths of young American men and women, almost 3,000. It is robbing this country of its resources. Well over $300 billion has been spent on this war in Iraq, and that is not to add to the amount of money in Afghanistan. We went to Iraq because supposedly we were making Americans safer. We are at greater risk now than we have ever been. We are certainly at greater risk and less secure than we were before 9/11.
And not only that, why didn't we track Osama bin Laden up through Afghanistan to that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan where we believe he really is? But no. We told the American public that it was Saddam Hussein. We have spent all of this money. We have occupied it, and we still don't have Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden, I believe, is being protected by the Pakistanis. I believe that Mr. Musharraf, who is supposed to be our ally, whom we are giving money to, knows a lot more than he is telling us. But one thing I know for sure, he won't allow us to come into Pakistan and he just created a pact with the Taliban. The Taliban is back in control. The poppy seeds are flowing. The dope is flowing. It has been tracked all the way to Chicago.
The American people had better get their heads out of the sand, and we had better do our oversight job and bring our soldiers home. Stop this war in Iraq.
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