[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 86 (Friday, June 24, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H5168]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SMART SECURITY AND DECEPTIONS IN 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, the common theme to the war in Iraq has 
been the Bush administration's ability and willingness to mislead the 
American people. First, they misled about the weapons of mass 
destruction. Then, nearly 2 years ago, they falsely declared the end of 
major combat operations. Now, they are openly declaring the success of 
the mission, and President Bush regularly speaks of an increasingly 
democratic Iraq.
  This assessment suggests the degree to which the President fails to 
comprehend the disastrous lack of security that has plagued Iraq over 
the last 2 years. Personally, I am frightened that our own President 
has such a failed understanding about the reality of the war that he 
started.
  Just as disturbing were recent comments by Vice President Dick 
Cheney. In an interview, he said that the Iraqi insurgency was in its 
``last throes.'' I am not sure which press reports the Vice President 
has been reading but, somehow, I do not think his optimistic assessment 
of Iraq's insurgency is grounded in real fact.
  Unfortunately, misleading assessments of the war like these do not 
magically secure Iraq from the true threats that it faces. And the true 
threats are an increasingly strengthened Iraq insurgency, bolstered by 
the continued United States military occupation of Iraq.
  On the ground, a violent wave of car bombings and other attacks 
killed 80 U.S. soldiers and more than 700 Iraqis in the month of May 
alone. Vice President Cheney calls this the ``last throes''? And by 
mid-June, almost one-third more troops were killed than during all of 
the month of May.
  At some point, the Bush administration needs to admit what the rest 
of the American people know, that its current strategy for Iraq is 
failing.
  Recent polls show that 63 percent of Americans want our troops to 
come home. Now it is time for the President to start listening to the 
American people, the people he works for.
  Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle understand that our 
Iraq policy is a disaster. When the House recently debated the Defense 
Authorization Act for fiscal year 2006, 122 Democrats, five 
Republicans, and one Independent voted in favor of my amendment simply 
expressing the sense of the Congress that the President should 
establish a plan for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and bring his 
plan to the Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans are less secure, not more secure, as a result 
of the war in Iraq. This war has created a whole new generation of 
terrorists whose common bond is their hatred for the United States and 
our aggressive militarism. We have asked the President to address 
Iraq's lack of security. We have asked him to come up with a plan for 
ending the war. He has not, so we will. And when we put our plan in 
place and when the troops come home, we can begin to plan for the 
future.
  Fortunately, there is a plan that would secure America for the 
future. That plan is the SMART Security resolution which I recently 
reintroduced with the support of 50 of my House colleagues. 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 will prevent acts of terrorism in countries lick Iraq by 
addressing the very conditions which allow terrorism to take root: 
poverty, despair, resource scarcity, and lack of educational 
opportunities. Instead of rushing off to war under false pretenses, 
SMART Security encourages the United States to work with other nations 
to address the most pressing global issues. That way we will be able to 
deal with global crises diplomatically instead of resorting to armed 
conflict.
  Instead of maintaining a long-term military occupation of Iraq, our 
future 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, the Bush administration needs to take a long, hard, and 
honest look at the effects of our policies in Iraq. Once they do, they 
will understand that the United States is less safe than we were before 
we got ourselves into this preemptive war and that we must end this 
long and destructive war.




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