[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 9, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2015
                          END THE WAR IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to 
give voice to tens of millions of Americans throughout our country who 
are looking for an end to the war in Iraq. I rise on behalf of our 
brave soldiers on our battlefield who have done everything our country 
has asked of them under terrible circumstances and who have made 
terrible sacrifices.
  I rise on behalf of their families who have suffered great losses and 
who worry day and night for their safety and for the loved ones still 
in combat. I rise this evening to call on our President to give the 
Nation what it has deserved, a viable plan to safely bring this war to 
an end, to redeploy the American forces out of Iraq, and turn the 
future of Iraq over to the Iraqi people once and for all.
  President Bush is soon expected to call for an escalation to the war 
in Iraq, seeking to deploy an additional 20,000 troops into combat. The 
President's plan would be just the latest in a series of flawed and 
tragic decisions that he has made regarding Iraq.
  The President was advised at the outset of the war by one of his top 
generals to send a large American force in order to win. President Bush 
rejected that idea, and since then he has tried at different times a 
surge of American troops in an effort to win the war. Now, each time 
that effort has failed.
  Now he appears ready to defy the odds and take great risks with the 
lives of others in order to try his plan one more time. The President 
has failed to make a compelling case for adding more troops into what 
is clearly the greatest American foreign policy disaster in half a 
century or even longer.
  I applaud the efforts of House Speaker  Nancy Pelosi and Senate 
Majority Leader Harry Reid, who have called for a new course in Iraq. 
On Friday they wrote: ``Adding more combat troops will only endanger 
more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no 
strategic gain. Rather than deploy additional forces to Iraq, we 
believe the way forward is to begin the phased redeployment of our 
forces in the next 4 to 6 months, while shifting the principal mission 
of our forces there from combat to training, logistics, force 
protection and counter-terror.''
  I implore the President to seriously consider these views, and I 
implore him to also consider the views of the current and former 
military and political leaders of his own administration who have 
openly questioned sending additional troops to Iraq. For instance, on 
December 17 in 2006, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, ``I 
am not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad for the 
purposes of suppressing this communitarian violence, this civil war, 
will work.''
  On November 15 General Abizaid expressed, ``I've met with every 
divisional commander. General Casey, the Corps commander, General 
Dempsey--we all talked together. And I said, `In your professional 
opinion, if we were to bring more American troops now, does it add 
considerably to our ability to achieve success in Iraq?' And they all 
said no.''
  The war in Iraq is a mistake from the beginning, and I voted against 
authorizing this war. But regardless of one's position then, clearly 
there is no sound basis now for increasing America's military presence 
in Iraq. The war has claimed the lives of over 3,000 American soldiers 
and has wounded more than 20,000, and it has clearly become a civil 
war.
  It is unconscionable to ask one more American soldier to fight and 
die in a civil war in Iraq. The President must engage key nations like 
Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and others in an effort to create a 
political solution in Iraq. The Nation opposes the ongoing war in 
America. There is still time for the President to change course, to 
reconsider his call for 20,000 more troops in Iraq, and to begin the 
redeployment of our troops and our forces now.
  I salute those who continue to serve in Iraq. I salute their families 
and pledge to them my unyielding support and respect as we try to 
safely bring the war to an end.
  Mr. President, listen to the people of the Nation which you govern. 
They have spoken, and they have spoken overwhelmingly. They reject the 
prolonging of the war in Iraq. They want our soldiers redeployed and 
brought home safely, and they want it done now.
  Please, Mr. President, listen to the people of this Nation.

                          ____________________