[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 26 (Monday, February 12, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H1453-H1454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            IRAQ RESOLUTION

  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, as already has been 
noted this evening, tomorrow the House will begin a 3-day debate on the 
question of whether or not we support the escalation of the war in Iraq 
by supporting the President's policy to send over 21,000 additional 
troops to Baghdad, what is called the surge, but is in fact an 
escalation of the war and of the exposure of our American troops in 
Iraq.
  It is an important debate, and it will be an important vote. It will 
be a very simple proposition: Either you support the escalation or you 
do not. This is the vote that the American people have been asking for 
now for many, many months. They certainly expressed it in the election. 
They have expressed it since the election where we see time and again 
they are telling the country, they are telling those of us who are in 
the Congress of the United States that they do not support this policy; 
they want an exit plan; they want our young men and women brought home 
from Iraq; and they want the Iraqis to take responsibility for the 
political decisions that must be made if Iraq is in fact going to be a 
unified country, if Iraq in fact can proceed along a road to building 
democratic institutions and hopefully finally building a democracy.

                              {time}  1945

  But none of that, none of that will be done by the troops from 
America. None of that can be done by the troops from America. The fact 
of the matter is that that must be done by the Iraqi people.

[[Page H1454]]

  But there will be those in this debate who will be defending the 
President's failed strategy in Iraq by attacking the President's 
critics. They ask, what message would America send to its troops in 
combat if Congress votes to repudiate the President's plan? What 
message, indeed?
  Mr. Speaker, the question really is, what message did Congress send 
to our troops from the very beginning of this miserable war?
  What message did Congress send to the troops in the beginning of this 
miserable war when they voted to go to war based upon the lack of 
proper evidence, false evidence, manipulated evidence and, in fact, 
outright lies to the American people and to the world about the 
situation in Iraq, and certainly a war that was not vital to the 
interest of the United States?
  What message did Congress send when it allowed the President to go to 
war without enough troops to secure the peace?
  What message did the Congress send when it allowed our troops to go 
into combat without proper armored vehicles?
  What message did Congress send when it allowed our troops to go into 
combat without proper protective body armor?
  And what message did the Congress send when it allowed the President 
to continue a failed course in Iraq with no adjustments in strategy?
  What message did Congress send when it allowed the President to 
effectively draft American volunteers by continuing their tours of duty 
over and over again?
  And what message did the Congress send to our troops, indeed?
  But there is a new Congress now and there is a new message for our 
troops. By raising objections to the President's failed strategy, and 
by demanding a new course in Iraq and the immediate and responsible 
redeployment of our forces, we will send a new and clear message to our 
troops. Our message to the American forces in combat is that we will 
not let you fight and die forever in Iraq with no plan to get you out, 
with no exit plan. Our message is that we will insist that the Iraqis 
take responsibility for their country and the building of a democracy, 
and that soon American forces will be brought home or redeployed to 
fight the real war on terror.
  Our message is that the American forces will not be used to fight 
Iraq's civil war. Our message to the President's few remaining 
supporters in the House and Senate is, do not exploit our brave troops 
in combat in a desperate and vain effort to bolster a weak President. 
Do not use our brave men and women serving in Iraq to cling to a 
misguided policy that is dangerous for America's interests and for its 
troops as well.
  Join us in opposing the escalation of the war in Iraq, and when we 
see that history is now repeating itself, where once again the 
administration is prepared to send our soldiers into Iraq without 
proper equipment and without proper training, demand, instead, a new 
strategy to get America out of Iraq's civil war, to get Iraq to take 
responsibility for its own future, and to use our troops for the proper 
mission, to defend America.

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