[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 119 (Tuesday, September 28, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H7717]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SMART SECURITY AND IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, all of us who have listened to the 
suspension debates just before the Special Orders have to acknowledge 
that there are not nearly enough post offices in this country to honor 
all of those who have fallen as heroes in Iraq. We have to do something 
about that. In fact, when it comes to Iraq, the White House does not 
seem to know which way is up. Instead of relying on facts and truth, 
the Bush administration has two-timed the American people by relying on 
doublespeak, innuendos and, worst of all, bald-faced lies.
  Last week, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated that Iraq's 
elections will occur in January of 2005 regardless of what happens on 
the ground there. Even if half of Iraq's provinces are under the 
control of insurgents, preventing Iraqis from getting to the polls, 
elections will still take place. Secretary Rumsfeld validated this type 
of sham election by saying that, and I quote him, no election is 
perfect. Does that mean he would endorse an American Presidential 
election if only 25 of 50 States were able to participate? Then again, 
perhaps that is exactly what this administration would endorse.
  Subsequent to Secretary Rumsfeld's remarks, Secretary of State Colin 
Powell had to slow down the administration's gears regarding the 
election issue, stating that the country must be secure for elections 
to take place. On ABC's ``This Week'' program, Secretary Powell also 
stated that, ``Yes, it's getting worse in Iraq. We have seen an 
increase in anti-Americanism in the Muslim world.''
  Getting worse in Iraq? That is one of the biggest understatements yet 
from the administration that specializes in understatements. During the 
past 2 weeks, 29 United States soldiers and at least 250 Iraqis have 
been killed, not to even mention how many of our troops have been 
severely wounded. U.S. forces now face 70 attacks by insurgents daily. 
That is up from 40 to 50 hostile incidents that occurred each day 
before the U.S. transferred authority to Iraq's interim government.
  Contrast Secretary Powell's comments about Iraq with the 
unnecessarily rosy statements given by President Bush and his 
mouthpiece in Iraq, interim Iraqi President Ayad Allawi. Despite a 
disturbing wave of violence in the past several weeks, our President 
recently stated that Iraq is showing signs of steady progress. He has 
also made the outrageous claim that only a relative few of the 25 
million Iraqis are trying to stop the march of freedom. In fact, there 
are thousands of insurgents fighting the American forces in Iraq and 
there are likely many, many more thousands who are sympathetic to the 
insurgency.
  Nobody should be surprised by the Bush administration's doublespeak 
on this issue, because the White House has actually gotten quite good 
at lying directly to the American people while somehow managing to keep 
a straight face.
  President Bush delivers only good news, like declaring the mission 
accomplished aboard a giant Navy ship. He paints an optimistic picture 
of Iraq, saying that the violence is decreasing in scope and intensity. 
Then the White House dispatches someone like Colin Powell to deliver 
the truth that Iraq is actually still mired in chaos and violence and 
that anti-Americanism is on the rise. It amounts to nothing less than 
an institutionalized method of a White House that speaks out of both 
sides of its mouth, telling lies to the American people. Lies instead 
of truth, in spite of the deaths of more than 1,000 U.S. soldiers, at 
least 13,000 innocent Iraqi civilians, and let us not forget about the 
more than 7,000 gravely wounded U.S. troops who have lost arms and legs 
and an inner peace they may never recover. I wonder if these 
individuals would agree with President Bush's assessment of steady 
progress in Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, there has to be a better way of handling the quagmire in 
Iraq. That is why I have introduced H. Con. Res. 392, a SMART security 
platform for the 21st century. SMART stands for sensible, multilateral, 
American response to terrorism. If we had been following the SMART 
security, we would not be in Iraq in the first place.

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