[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 102 (Monday, July 25, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H6413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SMART SECURITY

  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 20 of last year, I spoke in this 
Chamber in opposition to the war in Iraq and my belief that we needed a 
new SMART Security plan to protect America.
  Since then nearly every day that this body has been in session, I 
have again taken to the floor to express my outrage about our Nation's 
disastrous Iraq policy and the urgency for a different approach. Today 
I rise for the 100th time on this gravely important topic.
  Since I first spoke out last spring, look at what has happened: The 
Abu Ghraib story broke soon thereafter. We learned that the Pentagon 
sent our troops into battle without basic safety equipment. The Downing 
Street memo revealed that the decision to invade Iraq had been made as 
early as July 2002 with the intelligence and facts being fixed around 
the policy. And they were so committed to the lies peddled to sell this 
war that the President's top aide was willing to blow the cover of a 
CIA agent to smear a White House critic. And most importantly, since 
last April more than 1,000 Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice 
in Iraq, with thousands more wounded, and let us not forget the 
countless innocent Iraqi civilians who have died simply because they 
had the misfortune of living in a nation we wished to occupy.
  And what have we paid for the right to kill and be killed? More than 
$80 billion in supplemental appropriations for Iraq since last April 
alone. Since then America and Americans have gradually begun losing 
confidence in the administration's handling of Iraq. Fifteen months ago 
when I began, few people dared discuss an end to this war; but by this 
May, 128 Members of the House voted for my amendment to the defense 
authorization bill which called on the President to develop and 
implement a plan to withdraw our troops from Iraq as soon as possible. 
Unfortunately, the Bush administration remains tone-deaf on this life-
and-death issue.
  This White House, so famous for refusing to admit mistakes, continues 
to keep its head down and recite the talking points. Their stubbornness 
is costing us an average of about 17 American servicemen and women a 
week and over $1 billion every third day. Over this period I have 
become even more convinced that we must end this war and bring our 
brave men and women home to their families as quickly as we can. But 
that is not enough.
  The end to the war must mean the start of a whole new way of thinking 
about national security, like my SMART Security plan, with SMART 
standing for sensible, multilateral American response to terrorism.
  At the core of SMART is the belief that the use of military force 
must be an absolute last resort to be pursued only in the most extreme 
circumstances. SMART recognizes that America faces threats that cannot 
be ignored, like terrorism and the spread of deadly weapons; but it 
would address these threats by strengthening our global alliances, 
improving our intelligence capabilities, and upgrading weapons 
inspections regimes. SMART would also redirect the money we are 
currently spending on outdated Cold War weapons systems towards 
homeland security and an energy independence plan. And SMART is based 
on the belief that the only way to truly address terrorism is to do 
something about the poverty and despair that gives rise to terrorism in 
the first place.
  So SMART also includes an ambitious international development 
component, helping underdeveloped nations with democracy building, 
human rights education, conflict resolution, sustainable development of 
natural resources and more.
  SMART protects America by relying on the very best of America, not 
violence and conquests, but our capacity for global leadership, our 
belief in freedom, and our compassion for vulnerable people around the 
world.
  This first step is to return Iraq to the Iraqi people and return our 
troops to their families. Until that happens, I will continue to speak 
out in this Chamber as I have done 100 times. It is my sincere hope, 
Mr. Speaker, that I will not have to speak 100 times more, but if I 
must, I will.

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