Iraq War Resolution

Floor Speech

IRAQ WAR RESOLUTION -- (House of Representatives - February 14, 2007)

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Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for accommodating me so I might have some time to speak on this issue this evening.

Today, Speaker Pelosi has continued with what is called a debate on the Iraq war, but this is not a debate. The floor here is empty, except for the Members scheduled to come to the floor for the record and comment on the failures or success of the war on terror, the conflict in Iraq, prewar intelligence, the search for weapons of mass destruction, reconstruction efforts, al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein and, yes, George Bush. No real debate.

School children across America who are schooled in debate would not recognize what has happened here today, which should be the intellectual process of argument, because to call these series of speeches a debate is fiction, just as to call the nonbinding resolution proposed by the Speaker as congressional action is fiction.

This resolution has no binding effect on the administration, and it does not even have any binding effect on this body of Congress. This resolution is not a document from which decisions will be made or any action taken. This is not policy. This is not governance. It is, at best, a press conference. It is just talk.

The travesty of this fiction of a debate on the House floor is that there is no plan debated or alternatives for us to consider, only opposition. We do not have on the table a plan, an answer, or an action for us to take.

Now, I was not a Member of Congress when this House was asked in October of 2002 to grant the President authority to go into Iraq, and neither were 66 of my Republican Members of Congress. If they were with me they would fill this well, 66 of us that were not here on the Republican side when the President asked for authority to go into Iraq. However, I believe there are 55 Democratic colleagues who voted to send troops to Iraq who are still here today, and yet even those 55 Members who voted to send troops to Iraq offer no alternative plan. At a minimum you would think if you voted ``yes'' to send troops you would feel responsible and have a plan before publicly disapproving of the President's plan.

Now, there is certainly enough about the administration's handling of the Iraq conflict to disapprove of if we were to have a real debate. There is no question that serious mistakes have been made in the execution of the Iraqi conflict. But today we will not debate solutions because, unfortunately, this resolution does not provide any.

In the war on terror, we have real enemies who want to kill Americans and our allies. No nonbinding resolution passed on this House floor will change that reality.

This is not a debate but it should be. The risks to our country are great. Our enemies and our men and women in uniform are listening. The only proposal brought forth by the Speaker is a statement of opposition and disapproval.

The House and the administration should work together on a bipartisan plan for winning the war on terror, a plan with a commitment that is not undermined by political expediency or partisan division.

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