[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 47 (Monday, March 19, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H2625-H2626]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 AFTER FOUR YEARS, NO MORE BLANK CHECKS

  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, 4 years ago tonight, our Commander in 
Chief, President Bush, gave the orders that instigated Operation Iraqi 
Freedom. Whether they supported the President's decision or not, all, 
and I emphasize ``all'' patriotic Americans prayed for our success as 
well as the safe return of our brave service men and women. And 4 years 
later, we still do. However, today our success in Iraq is as elusive as 
it ever was and has ever been over the past 1,460 days. More than 3,200 
American soldiers have given the ultimate measure of sacrifice, and 
more than 24,000 have been injured. The American taxpayers have spent 
more than $400 billion on this war, and the President asked for an 
additional $245 billion, including a $100 billion wartime supplemental 
spending bill that will be considered on the floor later this week. And 
thousands of Iraqis have been killed, while literally millions have 
fled to neighboring countries, triggering a refugee crisis.
  Yet despite the sacrifice and hardship, how much progress has been 
made? Just last week, the Department of Defense reported record levels 
of violence and hardening sectarian violence in the fourth quarter of 
2006, stating, ``Some elements of the situation in Iraq are properly 
descriptive of a civil war.''
  Administration officials themselves admitted last week that political 
goals that were to have been met by the Iraqi government this month 
will take significantly longer to achieve, said the administration. The 
National Intelligence Estimate tells us the war has increased the 
global terror threat rather than reduce it. And General Schoomaker, the 
Army Chief of Staff, has issued strong warnings about the effect of 
this war on America's overall military readiness and our ability to 
respond to emerging strategic threats. Indeed, Ike Skelton of Missouri, 
the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that the situation 
with respect to America's readiness of its Armed Forces is grave and 
troubling. Meanwhile, the American people have wearied of 
administration claims that are divorced from reality. ``Mission 
accomplished'' and ``the insurgency is in its last throes'' are just 
two of the assertions that have proved, sadly, very badly mistaken.
  From the outset, the administration refused to commit a force 
commensurate with the threat it articulated, and now it asks for 
patience while a fourth troop escalation seeks to accomplish what three 
others could not. It profoundly miscalculated the cost of this war. It 
went to war without a plan for postwar stabilization and security. And 
perhaps most egregiously, the administration sent our troops into 
battle without proper equipment.
  Madam Speaker, given the repeated miscalculations by the 
administration over the last 4 years, and given the situation on the 
ground in Iraq, today it is past time, way past time for the United 
States Congress, the people's representatives, to insist on 
accountability and a new direction in Iraq.
  As one who supported the authority of the President of the United 
States to remove Saddam Hussein, and in listening to the President's 
State of the Union when he said not one of us who voted voted for 
failure, that was accurate. I certainly did not vote for failure. And I 
want success and seek success, but the administration's policies have 
not garnered success. Therefore, more blank checks and questioning 
obeisance by this Congress would constitute, in my opinion, a 
dereliction of our responsibility and our constitutional duty. Thus, 
this Congress, for the first time in 4 years, will have the opportunity 
this week to change America's course in Iraq and to insist that the 
Iraqis take control of their own destiny.
  The U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability 
Act offers the best way forward in Iraq. I urge Members of both sides 
of the aisle to support it. And I would call the attention to many of 
our Members to a vote in June of 1997, where so many Members on the 
Republican side of the aisle voted to set a timetable, set a date 
certain for withdrawal or exit strategy in amendments sponsored by Mr. 
Buyer of Indiana in which all the present leaders of the Republican

[[Page H2626]]

Party who were in the Congress at that time voted for.
  In short, the legislation that will come before us is saying much the 
same, but after 4 years of a lack of success, why do I say a lack of 
success? Secretary Gates in his confirmation hearing said that we are 
not winning in Iraq. That was just a few months ago, and he was right. 
Again, I would reiterate in my opinion because we have never, not at 
the outset, not over the last 4 years has this administration deployed 
assets sufficient to meet the challenge. This legislation is designed 
to protect our troops, requiring troop deployment to adhere to the 
Defense Department's current standards for training, not new standards, 
not new timelines, not new requirements, but the Department of Defense 
currently articulated standards to keep our troops safe, trained and 
well equipped, standards for equipment and armor, with the President 
required to certify if he believes the Nation's security requires DoD 
standards be waived. None of us want to stand in the way if a crisis is 
imminent and deployment must be accomplished. However, all of us want 
to see our troops safe, equipped and trained.
  The bill also holds the Iraqi government accountable, measuring its 
performance by the benchmarks President Bush outlined in his January 10 
speech, again, the President's benchmarks, not those imposed by 
Congress, but the administration's own benchmarks for the Iraqis.
  In addition, the legislation provides a responsible strategy for a 
phased redeployment of U.S. forces, provides greater protections for 
our troops and veterans, and refocuses our efforts on fighting al Qaeda 
and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
  There are those of course who will claim that this legislation 
attempts to micromanage the war. They are wrong. There is nothing in 
this legislation that will be considered this week that micromanages 
this war. Neither General Petraeus nor any of his commanders on the 
ground or at CENTCOM will in any way be constrained from the tactics or 
the strategies that they deem best to employ on the ground in Iraq. The 
only strings attached are those benchmarks and standards endorsed by 
the President himself, our Commander in Chief. And let me add, is there 
anyone who believes that Congress would be strongly asserting itself 
today if the President's policy was succeeding. The answer, I think, is 
clear.
  This legislation is the justified response of the people's 
representatives to a policy that is failing and a President who insists 
that we must continue to stay the course. There is not a new policy 
here. As I said before, we have increased troops on three different 
occasions. Unfortunately, lamentably, it did not bring the stability 
and security that it was planned to bring.
  There are others who will argue that this bill will compromise our 
position in the war on terror. To them I say that this legislation goes 
above and beyond the President's funding request, supporting our troops 
deployed at the tip of the spear, and reaffirming our commitment to 
fighting and defeating al Qaeda. And there certainly are those who will 
argue that this bill doesn't go far enough, that even one more day of 
fighting is one too many. To them I say respectfully that this 
legislation for the first time sets a date for the responsible 
redeployment of American troops from Iraq. It is not tomorrow, it is 
not the day after, but it is a date, a date that provides the Iraqis 
with the time they need to ready themselves for the responsibility they 
must assume.
  Madam Speaker, the Iraq war is already longer than our participation 
in World War I, World War II and the Korean War. The specter of 5\1/2\ 
years in Iraq, if our troops remain deployed until August 31, 2008, can 
hardly be called a precipitous cut and run.
  As we enter the fifth year of this war, let us insist on a policy 
designed to achieve success. As we enter the fifth year of this war, 
let us respond to the plea of the American people for a new direction 
in Iraq. And as we enter the fifth year of this war, let us demonstrate 
to the world that American strength and American wisdom are not set in 
opposition. I urge my colleagues, vote for a new direction in Iraq, 
support the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq 
Accountability Act.
  Mr. President, I did not vote for failure. I pray for the safety of 
our troops and for their success, but I also strongly believe that the 
legislation we will bring to this floor on Thursday is a reasoned, 
thoughtful way forward, a way forward that was initially suggested by 
the Iraq Study Group, five Republicans and five Democrats, headed up by 
former Secretary of State and adviser to this administration and 
previous administrations, James Baker. It is time that the Congress of 
the United States does not simply rubber-stamp the President's request, 
but on behalf of the American people exercises its best judgment to 
make policy for a change, to make policy for success, and make policy 
to ensure victory against those who would terrorize Americans, 
terrorize our Nation, and terrorize the rest of the world through the 
employment of their terrorist acts.

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