[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 133 (Wednesday, December 6, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H8869-H8870]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, today the Iraq Study Group released a 
reasonable working document that affirms the situation in Iraq, and I 
quote, ``is grave and deteriorating,'' and, I quote again, ``time is 
running out for a U.S. success strategy.'' Indeed the report attests 
that 79 percent of the Iraqi people do not believe that the U.S. 
presence there is constructive; 79 percent of the people of Iraq do not 
view our presence as constructive.
  I have affirmed many times since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that 
the Bush administration policy has forfeited our moral authority in 
Iraq. Those polling numbers prove it again. On the very day that this 
report was released, today, another 10 U.S. soldiers have lost their 
lives in Iraq. Attacks against U.S. forces now total more than 180 a 
day. And this figure doubles with each passing year.
  The report also restates our Nation's financial commitment to the 
Iraqi war, now soaring over $400 billion a year,

[[Page H8870]]

sapping strength from U.S. domestic priorities such as health care, 
education, energy independence, all much needed here at home. 
Unfortunately, the report begins with this sentence, and I quote: ``The 
U.S. has long-term relationships and interests at stake in the Middle 
East,'' but then, amazingly, fails to identify them. Obviously, one of 
them is oil. And the U.S., again, does not commit itself in this report 
to a strong effort to restore America's energy independence here at 
home.
  In addition, the report is very iffy on how the oil bounty of Iraq, 
which has the second largest set of reserves in the entire world, will 
be handled in the future. Though it makes suggestions on how to manage 
that oil reserve, the prospects of that being accomplished are quite 
remote. The report makes many recommendations that apply in Iraq, but 
not to end America's chief strategic vulnerability, our dependence on 
imported petroleum surely from the Middle East.
  Importantly, the report places the Iraq situation in a regional 
context, explaining how what is happening in Iraq is operating to harm 
America's standing throughout the Middle East. It states how tepid 
international support is for the U.S. engagement in Iraq, despite the 
President's acclamations that there is a coalition of the willing.
  In addition, the report acknowledging that for the United States to 
draw down forces, Iraqi units must replace them. And then the report 
details that the 138,000 Iraqi Army troops and 188,000 police units 
have some state of readiness. Half of them are not up to the task, with 
many functions infiltrated by the opposition.
  The report presents a confusing picture on the issue of how long the 
United States might need to maintain its presence in Iraq. It 
recommends unit withdrawal by 2008 at some level. But then, in a 
different section, the report states that not all U.S. combat brigades 
would be needed in the future for force protection for backing up Iraqi 
units, but, of course, says many units would still be needed. At least 
that is the inference, but it doesn't say how many.
  In the end, it fails to address the issue of how many combat units 
would actually be needed and, therefore, leaves the door open for an 
extended U.S. presence.
  Admitting the difficulty it will entail, the report recommends 
restoring broken diplomatic relations with nations the administration 
has publicly ridiculed, such as Syria and Iran, as well as factions 
within Iraq and throughout the region with which the administration has 
no dialogue, such as Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi faction. The report 
properly identifies the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict as 
paramount to reaching a regional peace settlement, stating clearly that 
neither Democrats nor Republicans would ever abandon Israel, but making 
strong recommendations on how to restore the peace process.
  The report also makes some statements I find implausible. One is that 
only 5,000 civilian contractors are operating in Iraq, from hired guns 
to transportation specialists, when in fact that number now exceeds 
over 100,000, and represents a serious and worrisome departure from 
past U.S. military operations. If that private presence morphs into a 
mercenary force that occupies Iraq as the U.S. military withdraws, this 
would be a first in American history and a development I would not 
welcome.
  Mr. Speaker, I was disappointed to read that at the U.S. Embassy in 
Baghdad, which was the largest in the world with over 1,000 employees, 
only 33 Americans speak Arabic. This is shocking and dangerous and 
another indication of the shocking mismanagement of the U.S. mission in 
Iraq.

                          ____________________