[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 133 (Wednesday, December 6, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H8871]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TIME FOR A CHANGE IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, it is time for the stubbornness of the 
White House to end. Today the President received recommendations from 
the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. This report should serve as a wake-up 
call that the status quo is simply not working, and that both Democrats 
and Republicans are now coming to the conclusion that we must take our 
troops out of Iraq.
  The President's strategy of stay the course is not working. In fact, 
things in Iraq are dramatically worse today than they were 1 year ago. 
Consider that last year the people of Iraq were experiencing an average 
of 200 attacks per week. Today those attacks have doubled to more than 
400 every week.
  Imagine that, Mr. Speaker, living in a country or trying to stabilize 
a country where 400 attacks are taking place on a weekly basis. The 
situation is not getting any easier for American troops either. This 
October was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in more than 2 years, 
and the war is increasingly a war fought exclusively by American 
troops. To date 12 countries have pulled their troops out, and six more 
countries are planning to withdraw in the coming months.
  Now, what are our brave men and women accomplishing today in Iraq? 
They are essentially serving as referees in a civil war between Shia 
and Sunni militias.
  Mr. Speaker, we are also spending billions of dollars in Iraq, money 
that could be better served on domestic priorities here in the United 
States or in combating terrorists who are making a comeback in 
Afghanistan.
  Today we are spending $8 billion a month in Iraq, and we are not 
seeing any change on the ground.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people voiced their frustration with the 
problems in Iraq and demanded with their votes a change of course on 
election day this year. But instead of listening to the people, instead 
of listening to Democrats, instead of listening to countless foreign 
policy experts who have demanded a change of course, President Bush has 
stubbornly stayed the same course.
  He said there will be no graceful exit from Iraq, and that American 
troops will still be in Iraq when he leaves office in 2 years. This is 
President Bush's war. He initiated it, and it is now his responsibility 
to get us out.
  Mr. Speaker, we must eliminate the open-ended commitment to keep 
troops in Iraq indefinitely. The Iraqi Prime Minister stated that his 
army has reached, and I quote, a good level of competency and 
efficiency, and that they could be ready to take on the task of 
securing Iraq by June of next year. We should force the Iraqi security 
forces to play an increased role in securing their own country. The 
Pentagon must also redouble its efforts to effectively train the Iraqi 
security forces.
  This past weekend, Mr. Speaker, a classified memo penned by Secretary 
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld suggested that our course of action in Iraq 
is not working and the President should reconsider redeploying troops. 
Now, as Democrats, for months we have proposed this solution of 
redeploying troops out of Iraq, and the only thing that has happened is 
that we have been vilified by the President and many of our Republican 
colleagues in Congress.
  I want to say, Mr. Speaker, that I support House Joint Resolution 73 
introduced by Congressman Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania last November 17 
in 2005.
  I don't want to go through that whole resolution, but I would like to 
make reference to the last whereas clause and the resolve clause, and 
it says, Whereas Congress finds it evident that continuing U.S. 
military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United 
States of America, the people of Iraq or the Persian Gulf region. Now, 
therefore be it resolved that the deployment of the United States 
forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated and the 
forces involved are to be redeployed at the earliest practicable date. 
That is what I believe in. That is what I would like to see us pass 
here.
  Today I think, Mr. Speaker, it is very important to mention and to 
note that the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan group, Democrats and 
Republicans, sent President Bush a strong message, and that is that the 
President's state of denial about the Iraq war cannot continue. The 
time has simply come to bring our troops home.

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