[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 82 (Monday, June 20, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H4785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   SMART SECURITY AND IRAQ'S SOLDIERS

  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, on April 12 at Fort Hood, Texas, President 
Bush told an audience of thousands of servicemembers that, for the 
first time, Iraqi soldiers outnumbered U.S. soldiers in Iraq. 
Specifically, he put the number of trained Iraqi forces at 150,000.
  This rosy assessment of the situation in Iraq is shocking, not only 
for its arrogance, but also for its ignorance. Is the President totally 
oblivious of Iraq's true security failures, or is he misleading the 
American people into thinking that peace has taken hold?
  Either way, the President's assessment misleads the American people 
about the true situation in Iraq. Take, for example, his claim that 
150,000 Iraqi soldiers have been trained. Iraqi military leaders 
actually reveal that the number of trained soldiers is closer to 
75,000, about half of the President's estimate. But the actual number 
of trained security personnel committed to a secure and democratic Iraq 
is even less than that, because many soldiers use their posts to 
assassinate political opponents. Others simply have no desire to help 
secure Iraq.
  The chief of police in Basra, General Hassan al-Sade, stated that at 
least half of his 14,000-member militia are openly opposed to a secure 
Iraq, and another quarter are politically neutral and do not follow his 
military orders. General al-Sade recently told the Guardian newspaper, 
``I trust 25 percent of my force, no more.''
  After giving his Fort Hood speech, the President never again 
mentioned that 150,000 Iraqi security personnel have been trained. 
Perhaps that is because he realized that his assessment was entirely 
inaccurate.
  But the President never admitted to the American people that he was 
wrong in this assessment, and he still has not told the American people 
how he plans to help secure Iraq or how and when he plans to bring the 
troops home.
  Mr. Speaker, the best way to help secure Iraq and protect our troops 
is to remove U.S. troops from the country. Nothing enrages and unites 
Iraq's insurgency more than the presence of nearly 140,000 American 
soldiers on Iraqi soil.
  One option is to bring one American soldier home for every 
trustworthy Iraqi soldier that has been trained. If 75,000 Iraqi 
soldiers have been trained, half the President's April 12 assessment, 
then why can we not remove the same number of our own soldiers?
  This is just one plan to exit from Iraq. We have asked the President 
to come up with his own plan for securing Iraq. I am not against 
supporting the President's plan if it is a good one; but right now, he 
does not even have a plan. So we will develop a plan of our own.
  Fortunately, there is a plan that would secure America for the future 
once we have cleaned up the mess we made in Iraq: SMART Security. SMART 
is a Sensible, Multilateral American Response to Terrorism for the 21st 
Century, and it will help us address the threats we face as a Nation.
  SMART Security will prevent acts of terrorism in countries like Iraq 
by addressing the very conditions which allow terrorism to take root: 
poverty, despair, resource scarcity, lack of education, and economic 
opportunities. SMART Security encourages the United States to work with 
other nations to address the most pressing global issues. SMART 
Security addresses global crises diplomatically instead of by resorting 
to armed conflict. Efforts to help the Iraqi people must follow the 
SMART approach: humanitarian assistance coordinated with our 
international allies to rebuild Iraq's war-torn physical and economic 
infrastructure.
  Mr. Speaker, it has been more than 2 years since the United States 
started the war in Iraq. Do the American people, especially the 
soldiers who are bravely serving our country halfway across the world, 
not deserve a plan for ending the war? It is time for the President to 
create a plan to end the war in Iraq to bring our troops home.

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