[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 50 (Thursday, March 22, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H2931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         IRAQ WAR SUPPLEMENTAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to follow up on the debate which 
we have just temporarily postponed until tomorrow morning on the 
supplemental appropriations bill for the Iraq war, and I wanted to 
start off by reiterating the statement made by Mr. Shadegg of Arizona 
in which he said he knew of no point in history where a country at war 
declared an end date for when they would be getting out of that war, 
the point being that most countries fight wars until the war is 
finished, based on the war situation, and not based on a calendar and 
an arbitrary date at that.
  I think that is very important as we have this vote tomorrow because 
we are, in fact, hurting our troops if we make the announcement right 
now to the enemy that by March of 2008 we will be leaving. We know 
particularly in the Middle East and in Iraq that in cities such as 
Tikrit and Fallujah, as we have been there the last 3 or 4 years, that 
whenever the enemy wants to, it can lay low and wait till our troop 
situation or troop level shifts, and then they come out of the 
woodwork. I think if we do announce that we are going to be gone in 
March 2008, no matter what happens on the field of battle, then that 
enemy is going to use that same tactic to just wait until the Americans 
are out of town.
  If we do leave that country before the job is done, then what 
happens, Mr. Speaker, is it could cause chaos. A civil war could erupt, 
and a lot of people say, well, I do not care if a civil war erupts. But 
how do you know it is going to stay in the boundaries of Iraq? Why 
would not the Shiites in Iran, for example, get involved in it? We 
already know they are getting involved in supplying the Shiites in Iraq 
with things. We do not know what will happen in that volatile area.
  What happens to our ally Israel? We know that the Arab countries want 
to wipe Israel off the map. Are we doing Israel any favors if we 
abruptly withdraw and arbitrarily withdraw from Iraq?
  And what happens to the oil reserves? I know it is interesting, 
everybody likes to say no war for oil, but the reality is you cannot 
fight a war without oil, and you cannot run our economy without oil, 
and petrodollars can stir up a lot of trouble around the globe. Just 
ask Hugo Chavez in Venezuela what he has done with his petrodollars, 
street money, and here we would be turning over the second or third 
largest oil reserves in the world over to a terrorist anti-American 
state.
  Think about this for a minute in that context. America drilling and 
tapping into all the reserves that we have, we control 3 percent of the 
world's oil reserves. We use 25 percent. We import 60 percent. If you 
wanted to declare war on America, you would look at our oil supply, as 
countries have always looked at the energy or food supply of any 
country that they have planned to invade.
  I want to say this. I represent Fort Stewart. This week the 3rd 
Infantry Division starts on its third deployment to Iraq. General 
Lynch, the commanding general, just left on Tuesday. But back in 
Hinesville, Georgia, there are 318 memorial trees that have been 
planted in memory of 3rd Infantry soldiers who have lost their life in 
Iraq. I have gone to some of the ceremonies. It is a sad thing, but 
even as you leave the field, the memorial field, soldiers say, we want 
to complete this job.
  I have visited soldiers in the hospitals in Baghdad and at Walter 
Reed and in Ramstein, Germany, in Landstuhl, and they all say they want 
to go back and finish the job. But I do not want to tell you that I can 
speak for the troops because there is thousands of them, and I always 
resent when people come here and say this is what the troops want, 
because the troops are just like the rest of America, we want a lot of 
things, and America is divided on this.
  But I want to say to the Democrats, I think that you have done the 
right thing. This war has needed more oversight. I believe we as 
Republicans were remiss in not having more oversight. I think putting 
up goals in the form of what we would like the Iraqi Government to do, 
I think that that is fitting and proper, but I think to have hard and 
fast deadlines is unreasonable.
  We, in this over 200-year constitutional government, cannot do things 
that we should do. Last year, for example, we were not able to pass a 
budget. We did not pass all of our appropriation bills. The important 
thing is the Republican Party, certainly as the majority party, we are 
guilty, but the point is we could not even do that in our own 
government. How do we expect the Iraqis to do it by an arbitrary date 
set?
  So I recommend that we recommit this bill, hammer out some of the 
differences, and then bring it back to the floor in a different and 
improved product.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the time.

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