[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 17, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CONCLUDING OUR INVOLVEMENT IN IRAQ AND BRINGING OUR TROOPS HOME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, today Representative Woolsey, Representative 
Lee and I introduced a bill that would conclude our involvement in Iraq 
and bring our troops home. The bill, H.R. 508, is entitled, Bring Our 
Troops Home and Sovereignty of Iraq Restoration Act of 2007. The bill 
has 16 original cosponsors. Representative Woolsey was on the floor a 
moment ago, and she shared with you some of the provisions of that 
bill.
  I will reiterate, I will repeat, if enacted, the bill would repeal 
the use-of-force authorization passed by Congress in 2002 and requires 
a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors hired by the U.S. 
Government within 6 months of the enactment of this bill.
  The bill authorizes the President to support an international 
stabilization force in Iraq, if the Iraq government requests such a 
force, but U.S. troops would not be permitted to participate in the 
international force.
  It would turn security activities and military operations in Iraq 
over to the elected Iraqi government within 6 months of the date of 
enactment.
  It would prohibit the U.S. from establishing permanent bases in Iraq.
  It would cap the number of officers and employees of the United 
States assigned to the U.S. embassy in Iraq at 500.
  It would accelerate the training and equipping of Iraq military and 
security forces, and pursue security and stability in Iraq through 
diplomacy.
  It would provide assistance to the Iraqi government in recovering 
cultural and historical artifacts that have disappeared since the U.S. 
invaded in 2003.
  It will do a number of other things, but let me wrap this up by 
saying it would fully fund veterans' health care, including mental 
health care, for our returning veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, I am spending an inordinate amount of time on this 
issue, along with many of my other colleagues, and I have chosen to be 
a major cosponsor on this bill because I feel it is absolutely my 
responsibility to not only articulate what is wrong with this war, but 
to do everything that I can to encourage the President of the United 
States, the commander in chief, to bring our troops home.
  I think it is important to do this because we have lost over 3,000 
American soldiers. As a matter of fact, I think it is about 3,034.
  I look at the continuing devastation in Iraq, and I see that just day 
before yesterday I believe over 100 Iraqis were killed and maybe twice 
as many was injured and we lost four more American soldiers.

                              {time}  1815

  This has got to stop. We are in control. We can stop this. I am 
encouraging our Commander-in-Chief to bring our troops home, and to 
pursue diplomacy, save lives. Because I believe if they continue down 
the path that they are going, we are going to have a real blood bath in 
a short period of time.
  This surge, this expansion of the war that has been advocated and 
pursued and pushed by this President is absolutely the wrong thing to 
do. I know that he has been advised and he has accepted the advice that 
he is to go into Sadr City and he is to confront al-Sadr, who is the 
head of a tremendous militia. They have over 50,000 signed up in that 
militia and more coming each day. I don't want our American soldiers to 
confront that militia. I don't want our American soldiers in the middle 
of this civil war. I don't want these young boys who come from our 
cities and our towns and these young girls who come from our villages 
and our hamlets of America to be caught in between Sunnis and Shiites 
and Kurds. They don't know a Sunni from a Shiite. We don't speak the 
language. We haven't trained people. Even the soldiers that are 
supposed to be embedded doing the training can't speak the language. 
They are depending on interpreters. And let me tell you, even some of 
the soldiers that we are training in Iraq are turning their backs on 
us. They desert our soldiers in the middle of a conflict, in a 
confrontation. These are the ones that we are training, that we are 
depending on to take over the security of Iraq somehow. It is not going 
to happen.
  We have to leave, and we should not be deterred from the mission of 
leaving because someone is going to accuse us of cutting and running. 
We know how these sound bites take place. We know what people do when 
they want to promote their position. They will mischaracterize what is 
being done. We have got to have the courage to stand up and stand up 
for our American soldiers.
  I support and cosponsor this new bill. I would ask my colleagues to 
support it.
  Today, Representative Woolsey, Representative Lee and I introduced a 
bill today that would conclude our involvement in Iraq and bring our 
troops home.
  The bill, H.R. 508 is titled ``Bring the Troops Home and Iraq 
Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2007.''
  The bill has 16 original cosponsors.
  If enacted, the bill would:
  Repeals the use of force authorization passed by Congress in 2002.
  Requires the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors hired 
by the U.S. government within 6 months of the enactment of this bill. 
The bill authorizes the President to support an international 
stabilization force in Iraq, if the Iraqi government requests such a 
force, but U.S. troops would not be permitted to participate in the 
international force;
  Turn security activities and military operations in Iraq over to the 
elected Iraqi government within 6 months of the date of enactment.
  Prohibit the U.S. from establishing permanent bases in Iraq;
  Cap the number of officers and employees of the United States 
assigned to the U.S. embassy in Iraq at 500;
  Accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi military and security 
forces;
  Pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy;
  Provide Iraqi government assistance in destroying/cleaning up land 
mines, unexploded ordnance and depleted uranium shells;
  Provide assistance to the Iraqi government in recovering cultural and 
historic artifacts that have disappeared since the U.S. invaded in 
2003;
  Provide compensation for Iraqi noncombatant civilian casualties--
except for those individuals that participated in the armed insurgency 
after May 1, 2003; and
  Fully fund veterans healthcare, including mental health care, for our 
returning veterans.
  This bill stands in stark contrast to President Bush's proposal to 
send more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.
  The President proposes more of the same, while we provide a way to 
remove our troops from the sectarian civil war in Iraq, return our 
troops to their loved ones and begin the process of restoring our 
credibility throughout the world.

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