[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 121 (Monday, September 25, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H7332]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2130
                              THE IRAQ WAR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Schwarz of Michigan). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend the New York Times 
published an article entitled ``Spy Agencies say Iraq War Worsens 
Terrorism Threat.'' The article goes on to describe an April 2006, a 
National Intelligence Estimate which reports the consensus of the 16 
U.S. intelligence agencies that the American invasion and occupation of 
Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that 
the overall terrorist threat has grown since the September 11 attacks.
  The NIE report concludes that the radical Islamic movement has 
expanded from a core of al Qaeda operatives to include a new class of 
``self-generating'' cells inspired by al Qaeda's leadership, but 
without any direct connection to Osama bin Laden or his top 
lieutenants, which will be difficult to monitor and disrupt. One 
official quoted in the article says ``that the Iraq war has made the 
overall terrorism problem worse.''
  Mr. Speaker and Members, what are we doing? What is this 
administration doing, and what is this American President thinking 
about? He is sending more troops to Iraq. The Army announced today that 
it has extended the combat tours of about 4,000 soldiers who normally 
would be returning home and is considering sending more combat units to 
Iraq in order to meet the needs in Iraq. Many of the troops in Iraq are 
on their second and even third deployment to Iraq. The additional 
troops are necessary because of the sectarian violence that encompasses 
much of the country. Many experts have concluded that Iraq is in a 
civil war.
  Mr. Speaker and Members, the President of the United States has said 
more than once that we are not getting out of Iraq, that we will stand 
down when the Iraqis stand up, and they would have you believe that we 
are training Iraqi soldiers and that they are going to take over the 
responsibility of securing that country.
  It is not happening, Mr. Speaker and Members. As a matter of fact, 
some of the Iraqi soldiers that have been trained are abandoning our 
soldiers in the middle of conflict. I read an account just a few days 
ago where our American soldiers got in the middle of a confrontation of 
a battle, I think, between Sunnis and Shiites, and they were watched by 
the Iraqi soldiers who were with them who literally stepped back and 
let the American soldiers be responsible for trying to resolve that 
fight that was going on.
  We hear stories not only about Iraqi soldiers who abandoned our 
soldiers but who are really inside, being trained by us, with American 
taxpayer dollars being spent on training them when they simply turn on 
us. They are not with us to begin with. They are there to spy on us, 
and they are undermining us.
  For God's sake, what are we doing? This occupation is not only 
causing the deaths of young American men and women, almost 3,000. It is 
robbing this country of its resources. Well over $300 billion has been 
spent on this war in Iraq, and that is not to add to the amount of 
money in Afghanistan. We went to Iraq because supposedly we were making 
Americans safer. We are at greater risk now than we have ever been. We 
are certainly at greater risk and less secure than we were before 9/11.
  And not only that, why didn't we track Osama bin Laden up through 
Afghanistan to that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan where we 
believe he really is? But no. We told the American public that it was 
Saddam Hussein. We have spent all of this money. We have occupied it, 
and we still don't have Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden, I believe, is 
being protected by the Pakistanis. I believe that Mr. Musharraf, who is 
supposed to be our ally, whom we are giving money to, knows a lot more 
than he is telling us. But one thing I know for sure, he won't allow us 
to come into Pakistan and he just created a pact with the Taliban. The 
Taliban is back in control. The poppy seeds are flowing. The dope is 
flowing. It has been tracked all the way to Chicago.
  The American people had better get their heads out of the sand, and 
we had better do our oversight job and bring our soldiers home. Stop 
this war in Iraq.

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