[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 184 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 184

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding additional steps to expedite 
   the success of the United States in Iraq, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 22, 2005

   Mr. Skelton (for himself and Ms. Harman) submitted the following 
  concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 
Services, and in addition to the Committee on International Relations, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of Congress regarding additional steps to expedite 
   the success of the United States in Iraq, and for other purposes.

Whereas the key to the success of the United States mission in Iraq and of the 
        Iraqi nation in the long-term is the development of self-sustaining and 
        operationally capable Iraqi security forces able to provide for the 
        independent security of their country;
Whereas the achievement of this goal will require additional improvements in the 
        quality of the Iraqi security forces, as well as increasing the numbers 
        of such security forces, and the acceleration of training efforts for 
        such security forces;
Whereas the United States military needs better intelligence regarding the 
        insurgent forces that it is facing in Iraq;
Whereas the embedding of United States military forces in ``transition teams'' 
        is an effective technique for the training and mentoring of Iraqi 
        security forces;
Whereas the effort to stand-up viable Iraqi security forces able to provide for 
        their own security will still take many months and perhaps years unless 
        there is a substantial infusion of additional resources and trainers as 
        soon as possible;
Whereas the time and difficulty associated with the training of Iraqi security 
        forces to the point where such security forces can sustain themselves 
        and provide security for themselves and their country will require the 
        continued rotation of United States military forces to fight the 
        insurgency in Iraq;
Whereas the United States military, and United States Army in particular, 
        continue to show increasingly dangerous levels of strain as the war in 
        Iraq and the global war on terrorism continue to demand sustained high 
        levels of operational tempo;
Whereas to meet a critical need in the short term, the United States Army has 
        reduced quality standards by enlisting fewer high school graduates, 
        retaining problematic recruits, and relaxing commissioning 
        qualifications for officers;
Whereas these measures by the United States Army raise concern about whether the 
        Army will continue to be as effective in its operations in Iraq as it 
        has been, as well as about the future ability of the Army to operate in 
        high technology battlefield environments; and
Whereas support by the people of the United States is vital to sustaining the 
        war effort in Iraq, and that support must be reinvigorated if it is to 
        sustain the United States military through current and future operations 
        in Iraq: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the United States should deploy additional transition 
        teams to accelerate the training of Iraqi security forces and 
        should backfill those personnel with personnel from other 
        services if needed given the critical nature of this mission;
            (2) the United States should urge the North Atlantic Treaty 
        Organization (NATO) and other international organizations to 
        take a more prominent role in the training of Iraqi security 
        forces as the most direct way to expedite the establishment of 
        Iraq's long-term security;
            (3) the President and the Secretary of Defense should 
        develop a comprehensive plan to deal with the urgent problems 
        that the United States military, in particular the United 
        States Army, is experiencing as a result of continued high 
        operational tempo; and
            (4) the President should develop and explain to the people 
        of the United States a strategy for success in Iraq which 
        includes, at a minimum--
                    (A) a plan to train Iraqi Army and police forces 
                faster and more effectively;
                    (B) identifiable milestones by which progress in 
                the training of Iraqi Army and police forces may be 
                assessed; and
                    (C) a plan providing for the withdrawal of United 
                States military forces from Iraq after the milestones 
                described in subparagraph (B) are achieved and Iraqi 
                security forces are capable of providing for Iraq's 
                security on a self-sustaining basis.
                                 <all>