Providing for Redeployment of United States Armed Forces and Defense Contractors from Iraq

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR REDEPLOYMENT OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES AND DEFENSE CONTRACTORS FROM IRAQ -- (House of Representatives - May 10, 2007)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, this war is a terrible tragedy, and it is time to bring it to an end. This is a straightforward bill to redeploy our military forces from Iraq and to end the war in Iraq, and I want to thank the leadership for bringing it to the floor today.

This bill would allow the administration and joint chiefs 3 months to plan a safe and orderly redeployment process, and then an additional 6 months to carry it out. It provides for the orderly transfer to Iraqi authorities the military bases and facilities we have constructed and occupied on their national territory, as General Petraeus himself has always insisted would happen when we depart from Iraq.

The bill permits U.S. Armed Forces to remain deployed in Iraq in order to protect U.S. embassy and diplomatic personnel. It also allows limited special operations to pursue members of al Qaeda and other global terrorist organizations, and it continues the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces.

Mr. Speaker, this bill does not walk away from Iraq or the Iraqi people. It specifically continues diplomatic, social, economic, and reconstruction aid; and it allows the President to provide asylum or other means of protection to those Iraqi citizens who might be physically endangered by our leaving Iraq because of services they provided to our military personnel.

Finally, this bill leaves all the decisions on the locations outside of Iraq to which our troops will be redeployed wholly in the hands of our military commanders. They may be deployed to neighboring countries or transferred to Afghanistan. Many, I hope, would be sent home by commanders, grateful that their service is now completed. And many of our proud Guard and Reserve units would, I hope, return to their stateside duties to protect our homeland.

Mr. Speaker, there is no nice, neat, easy way to leave Iraq. Every Member in this Chamber understands that. But it is the right thing to do. The American people have chosen us to act on this matter, and we must act.

Redeployment of our troops will set a new dynamic into motion in Iraq and the region. It will force the Iraqis, their neighbors, and the international community to finally confront the tough issues of reconciliation. Until we leave, no one has to make the hard choices about how Iraqis are going to live together or die together.

Like all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I stand in awe of our uniformed men and women, who have performed fearlessly and tirelessly in Iraq. But we should no longer demand that their sweat, blood, and lives be sacrificed on the altar of Iraqi sectarian violence. They are needed elsewhere, in Afghanistan, in the region, and here back home. Their duties, their global mission and purpose continue, but Iraq must find its own way.

Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. For four long deadly years, this administration and their allies in Congress have been flat wrong about Iraq. The time has come for us to begin redeploying our troops from Iraq in a safe and orderly manner.

Now, every one of us, whether we voted for or against the war, has a responsibility for the men and women who have been put in harm's way. It is easy to say stay the course; but I would remind my colleagues, none of us will wake up tomorrow in the midst of a civil war in Iraq. None of us will have to go on patrol in Fallujah or Baghdad. We owe our troops better than rhetoric; we owe them honesty and action.

For me, this is a vote of conscience. For me, this is a way to restore the good and decent name of the United States. For me, this is a way to best serve our men and women in uniform, by bringing them home to their families.

I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill and vote to end the war.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for yielding me the time, and I thank all of those who participated in this debate today.

Mr. Speaker, my friends on the other side of the aisle apparently believe in and want to continue the status quo. That is their right. But I believe they are wrong. They have been wrong for 4 long, deadly years. So it is time for new leadership, for a new direction, for a new policy, a policy based on reality, not spin, not press release, not intimidation.

My friends say that we can't leave Iraq until the Iraqis ask us to leave. I saw a story that appeared on the Associated Press wire today which states that a majority of Iraqi lawmakers endorsed a draft bill calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and demanding a freeze on the number already in the country.

Well, Mr. Speaker, we just heard from the gentleman from California that the Iraqi Government represents the Iraqi people, and apparently the Iraqi Government is telling us they want us to have a time certain when we leave.

Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. Our friends on the other side of the aisle argue that the best way to support the troops is to ask them to participate in a failed policy. Well, I disagree.

The question before us is simple: Do you want to end this war? If you do, then you will vote for the bill before us.

Mr. Speaker, let me end this debate the way I began it, by reminding everyone in this Chamber, Republican and Democrat, reminding everybody, whether you supported the war initially or whether you opposed the war, that we all have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to those men and women who we have put in harm's way, and that responsibility is to act responsibly, to make sure that we are giving every consideration before we put them in harm's way.

We are now entering the fifth year of this war. We have a President who refuses to admit one error, one misjudgment. The fact of the matter is, there are two ways to end this war: one, with the cooperation and the help of the President, which we all want. The other way is for Congress to do its job, to take its responsibility seriously and to do what is necessary to bring this war to an end.

I urge all of my colleagues to vote for the underlying bill.

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Mr. McGOVERN. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I would simply say that obviously this is yet another cynical attempt to try to avoid dealing with the issue that I think both Democrats and Republicans want to deal with, and that is whether or not we should have a timetable for withdrawal and redeployment from Iraq.

This is a procedural motion that, as the gentleman from Wisconsin pointed out, is so broad, this could justify keeping us in Iraq forever and ever and ever. And for the ``regional security of the Middle East,'' what does that mean? This is an open-ended invitation for our military involvement and for our permanent occupation of Iraq forever. This in and of itself is not particularly well thought out.

I understand what you are trying to do, and that is to avoid giving people the opportunity to vote on this. But essentially what you are doing is gutting this legislation.

I would strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this motion. We are on our fifth year, our fifth year of this war, no accountability and no admission that perhaps we need to take a different course; and the best you can do is come before us with this motion that would, again, if passed, would allow us to stay and occupy Iraq indefinitely.

I think this is a bad idea. I think it is a cynical idea. I think the people on the other side should have the guts to vote ``no'' on the timetable if you don't want to withdraw our troops. If you want a never-ending war, then have the guts to vote for it, but this is not the way to do it. I urge rejection of this motion.

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