[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 87 (Monday, June 27, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H5223-H5224]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              WAR IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kuhl of New York). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, there has been a great deal of debate on 
this House floor recently about the war in Iraq and not so much about 
Afghanistan, interestingly, but certainly about Iraq. Some in Congress 
are clamoring for us to pull out of Iraq immediately. Some want a 
timetable indicating a date certain when we will withdraw. Some say 
there is no plan concerning postwar Iraq, no exit strategy. I would 
like to address each of these points just briefly.
  Number 1, we promised the Iraqi people that we would not pull out 
prematurely. Remember that back in the Gulf War in the early 1990s, we 
made a similar promise. We did pull out, and thousands of Iraqis died. 
We have had a very difficult time regaining their trust since. I think 
to this point we may have regained some of that status and some of that 
trust.
  A date certain on which we will leave Iraq will encourage insurgents 
to hang on until that date and then intensify the attacks. I think the 
date certain of withdrawal will certainly be looked upon by many 
insurgents as a sign that they were winning, a sign of victory. I am 
sure they would claim victory at that point.
  Also, I think it is important that a withdrawal without victory will 
dishonor the memories of those who have died and sacrificed, and I, for 
one, would very much hate to go back and face some of those parents and 
some of those husbands and wives who have lost soldiers in the war and 
try to tell them that basically their son, their daughter, their 
husband, or their wife died for no cause at all. That would be very, 
very difficult for them to swallow.
  Then I think most of us who have been overseas, and a great many 
Members of Congress have, have been to Iraq and Afghanistan and Kuwait, 
and Landstuhl in Germany to the hospital, and up to Walter Reed, and 
one thing that we found almost universally is that our soldiers have 
tremendous morale. They have a very strong sense of mission, and they 
have a real sense of purpose. Almost to a person the military personnel 
that I have talked to would tell you that they absolutely do not want 
to leave this thing undone. They want to make sure there is a sense of 
accomplishment and a sense of purpose.
  Finally, let us address the issue of no plan, that there is no 
strategy, no exit plan at all. We might refer to this chart here. One 
year ago, there was one Iraqi military battalion that was trained and 
equipped. Now there are more than 100 battalions trained and equipped, 
and those are reflected over here on this 75,791 total of Ministry of 
Defense forces. Also, in addition, there are 90,883 policemen and other 
patrol and security guards that have been trained. So it is a total of 
170,000 Iraqis who are currently trained and equipped.
  I have been to Iraq where I have seen some of this training occur. I 
have been to Amman, Jordan, where a lot of the police academies are 
held. So at the present time we are aiming for 270,000, and we are most 
of the way there. We still have 100,000 to go, and we are training 
about 10,000 a month. So that means in about 10 months we will be at 
roughly 270,000.
  General Petraeus says there is no shortage of volunteers; we have 
more people applying for this position than we have slots to fill them 
at the present time.

[[Page H5224]]

  So I think we are in reasonably good shape. The exit strategy is 
obviously to draw down our forces as the Iraqis are able to take 
control of the situation, and currently, in almost every military 
action, Iraqis are out in front. There are many areas of Iraq at the 
present time where there are no U.S. forces. Iraqi forces are totally 
in control, not a whole lot of those areas, but there are some. So the 
Iraqis are assuming more and more responsibility for their own 
protection. At the present time, there are 21,000 fewer Americans in 
Iraq than there were in January. So there has been some drawdown at the 
present time.
  One of the wild card situations is the Sunnis. Recently, the Sunnis, 
it was reported, reached a resolution with the Shias and the Kurds as 
to their role in government. I think if that can be accomplished, then 
we are in reasonably good shape for a resolution.
  A constitution will be written by August 15. It will be approved by 
October 15, and a new government will be elected on December 15.
  So there is a strategy. Progress is being made. It is a very 
difficult situation. I really, truly believe all Members, both sides of 
the aisle, are very much in support of our troops. I think it is 
important that we support them with our votes, with money, with 
equipment, and also with our words, because our words that are spoken 
on this House floor and in the press certainly reverberate around the 
world and al Jazeera.
  So I know our troops very much are hoping that we will show 
unqualified and tremendous resolution in resolving this issue.

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