Time For A Change In Iraq
TIME FOR A CHANGE IN IRAQ -- (House of Representatives - December 06, 2006)
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, it is time for the stubbornness of the White House to end. Today the President received recommendations from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. This report should serve as a wake-up call that the status quo is simply not working, and that both Democrats and Republicans are now coming to the conclusion that we must take our troops out of Iraq.
The President's strategy of stay the course is not working. In fact, things in Iraq are dramatically worse today than they were 1 year ago. Consider that last year the people of Iraq were experiencing an average of 200 attacks per week. Today those attacks have doubled to more than 400 every week.
Imagine that, Mr. Speaker, living in a country or trying to stabilize a country where 400 attacks are taking place on a weekly basis. The situation is not getting any easier for American troops either. This October was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in more than 2 years, and the war is increasingly a war fought exclusively by American troops. To date 12 countries have pulled their troops out, and six more countries are planning to withdraw in the coming months.
Now, what are our brave men and women accomplishing today in Iraq? They are essentially serving as referees in a civil war between Shia and Sunni militias.
Mr. Speaker, we are also spending billions of dollars in Iraq, money that could be better served on domestic priorities here in the United States or in combating terrorists who are making a comeback in Afghanistan.
Today we are spending $8 billion a month in Iraq, and we are not seeing any change on the ground.
Mr. Speaker, the American people voiced their frustration with the problems in Iraq and demanded with their votes a change of course on election day this year. But instead of listening to the people, instead of listening to Democrats, instead of listening to countless foreign policy experts who have demanded a change of course, President Bush has stubbornly stayed the same course.
He said there will be no graceful exit from Iraq, and that American troops will still be in Iraq when he leaves office in 2 years. This is President Bush's war. He initiated it, and it is now his responsibility to get us out.
Mr. Speaker, we must eliminate the open-ended commitment to keep troops in Iraq indefinitely. The Iraqi Prime Minister stated that his army has reached, and I quote, a good level of competency and efficiency, and that they could be ready to take on the task of securing Iraq by June of next year. We should force the Iraqi security forces to play an increased role in securing their own country. The Pentagon must also redouble its efforts to effectively train the Iraqi security forces.
This past weekend, Mr. Speaker, a classified memo penned by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld suggested that our course of action in Iraq is not working and the President should reconsider redeploying troops. Now, as Democrats, for months we have proposed this solution of redeploying troops out of Iraq, and the only thing that has happened is that we have been vilified by the President and many of our Republican colleagues in Congress.
I want to say, Mr. Speaker, that I support House Joint Resolution 73 introduced by Congressman JACK MURTHA of Pennsylvania last November 17 in 2005.
I don't want to go through that whole resolution, but I would like to make reference to the last whereas clause and the resolve clause, and it says, Whereas Congress finds it evident that continuing U.S. military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the people of Iraq or the Persian Gulf region. Now, therefore be it resolved that the deployment of the United States forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated and the forces involved are to be redeployed at the earliest practicable date. That is what I believe in. That is what I would like to see us pass here.
Today I think, Mr. Speaker, it is very important to mention and to note that the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan group, Democrats and Republicans, sent President Bush a strong message, and that is that the President's state of denial about the Iraq war cannot continue. The time has simply come to bring our troops home.
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