[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 116 (Thursday, September 15, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                STATEMENT ON HOW TO END THE WAR IN IRAQ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 15, 2005

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, on September 15, 2005, I prepared the 
following statement during a hearing organized by Rep. Lynn Woolsey on 
how to end the war in Iraq:
  Good morning. Thank you, Chairwoman Woolsey for your leadership in 
holding this important hearing. 1,896 of our brave young men and women 
have died in Iraq. By some counts, up to 100,000 innocent Iraqis have 
perished in a war that was based on false premises. It was wrong to go 
in from the start and it is wrong to stay. And it is counterproductive 
to U.S., Iraqi and regional interests, as Iraq heads closer to an all-
out civil war.
  The U.S. presence in Iraq is fueling the insurgency, and has turned 
Iraq into a training ground for the insurgents. The insurgency is 
growing stronger by the day and attack tactics are becoming more 
advanced. Iraqi rebels have refined their bomb-making skills. According 
to a CIA assessment from this past June, the Iraq war was likely to 
produce a dangerous legacy by dispersing to other countries Iraqi and 
foreign combatants more adept and better organized that they were 
before the conflict.
  It is not only our soldiers who are falling victim to this 
insurgency. Just yesterday it was reported that almost 150 Iraqis died 
and 500 were wounded in coordinated attacks of at least a dozen suicide 
bombings in Baghdad. 114 of those people were Shiite day laborers in 
Baghdad, lured into a minibus by a suicide bomber with the promise of 
work. This was the second deadliest suicide bombing since the war 
began. AI-Zarqawi's Sunni militant group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, 
claimed responsibility in statements released over the group's website 
that said the bombings signified that ``the battle to avenge the Sunni 
people of Tal Afar has started.'' Later, an audiotape released over the 
Internet that was said to be from AI-Zarqawi declared a ``full-scale 
war on Shiites around Iraq, without mercy.''

  One year ago today, it was reported that a National Intelligence 
Estimate produced for President Bush in the summer of 2004 on the 
political, economic and security situation in Iraq determined that at 
best, stability in Iraq would be tenuous, and at worst, there were 
trend lines that pointed to a civil war.
  Now today, as fears of civil war in Iraq are becoming realized, it is 
clear that the worst scenario predicted is coming true. The U.S. 
presence in Iraq in only making the conflict worse, as it is 
strengthening tensions between the Sunni militants and the Shiite 
majority, and serving to strengthen the insurgency.
  The Iraqi constitution and the run-up to the October 15 referendum on 
the constitution has been a central point of concern for the Sunnis, 
who feel that the constitution will institutionalize their reduced role 
in Iraq. Tensions between Sunnis and Shiites have increased recently 
and the attacks yesterday in Baghdad only emphasize that point. Yet the 
constitution is widely perceived to have a large U.S. footprint. Adnan 
Pachachi described how U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad participated in 
most meetings for the constitution and was not neutral. Despite the 
Sunnis wanting to continue negotiations on the constitution, according 
to Mr. Pachachi, Ambassador Khalilzad was interested in seeing the 
draft constitution done and sent to the National Assembly as soon as 
possible in order to prove that US policy has succeeded in Iraq.
  Furthermore, the U.S. presence has served to attract and recruit 
terrorists into Iraq, to fight the U.S. and what they consider to be 
the U.S.-backed government of Iraq. The insurgents' attacks are 
becoming more advanced through their practice on U.S. soldiers and now 
they are applying these improved tactics on the Shiite majority.
  The U.S. presence is strengthening tensions within Iraq. There is no 
better time to leave than now--before the situation worsens. Iraqis 
themselves have asked for it. On June 23, 83 members of Iraq's newly 
elected National Assembly signed a petition calling for a timetable for 
the withdrawal of foreign troops.
  A member of the Assembly, Abdul-Rahman al-Neeimi, told the paper that 
American forces ``have used all possible means in order to provoke 
sectarian strife in Iraq, but have failed thanks to God.'' He concluded 
by saying, ``We tell the occupation forces: Hands off the Iraqi people 
and let us heal our wounds by our own means.''
  It is time for this Congress to put aside the partisan differences 
that have occurred over the war and to come together in a plan where we 
can unify to take steps to withdraw our troops from Iraq and to take 
steps to heal the breach that the war has created between America and 
the world community. Neil Abercrombie, Walter Jones, Ron Paul and I 
introduced a bipartisan bill calling for the withdrawal of U.S. forces 
from Iraq, and an announcement of the withdrawal by December 31, 2005. 
I believe that while a number of factors must come into play for a 
successful withdrawal, which I hope will be highlighted here today, 
merely announcing the withdrawal will start to reverse the increasingly 
disastrous course in Iraq.

                          ____________________