[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 54 (Wednesday, March 28, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E673-E674]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 U.S. TROOP READINESS, VETERANS' HEALTH, AND IRAQ ACCOUNTABILITY ACT, 
                                  2007

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. ALBERT RUSSELL WYNN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 23, 2007

  Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, today, the House takes up the U.S. Troop 
Readiness, Veterans' Health, and Iraq Accountability Act, a bill that 
ensures that our troops are properly trained and equipped, that sets 
strong standards for accountability in Iraq, and that sets a date 
certain for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq.
  Our servicemen and women have performed courageously in Iraq, and we 
are deeply grateful for their sacrifice and unflagging commitment. They 
have served our Nation admirably, despite inadequate planning and 
incompetent management by this administration. There is nothing more we 
could ask of them. They have risen to every challenge, and carried out 
their mission faithfully, in the highest traditions of military 
service.
  This bill honors that service, by ensuring that our men and women in 
uniform are properly equipped, and properly trained, before they are 
deployed to combat duty. It sets strong readiness standards, to protect 
our troops by requiring that their deployment is consistent with 
Department of Defense guidelines for equipment and training, and that 
they are fully ``mission-capable.'' It also ensures that they do not 
serve longer deployments than is the tradition of their service--while 
including provisions that grant flexibility in the case of a real 
national-security need.
  The Bush administration has extended troop stays, brought back our 
troops for tour after tour, time and again. But the time for more 
tours, and more troops, and more war, is finished.
  It is time to bring our troops home.
  While I'd like to see our troops begin an immediate withdrawal from 
Iraq, concluding by the end of the year, I have become convinced that 
the bill before us is the best we can achieve. I commend Speaker 
Pelosi, for her hard work to build consensus in this House for a new 
direction in Iraq, and for her efforts to bring our troops home.
  This bill is a historic step in the right direction in that it sets a 
date-certain for the withdrawal of troops. After four years of war in 
Iraq, it is evident that this conflict is not amenable to a military 
resolution. Rather, we must withdraw, and engage Iraq and its neighbors 
in the region in a diplomatic initiative, rather than a military 
conflict. I also believe we must give the Iraqi people an incentive to 
take responsibility for their own security, to disarm the militias and 
reduce sectarian violence. This bill gives them that incentive in no 
uncertain terms.
  Under this bill Iraq, and the Bush administration, must begin to show 
real progress, and will be held accountable by this Congress for that 
progress. The bill requires the President to certify that the Iraqi 
government is meeting the political and military benchmarks he laid out 
in January, and hold the Iraqis accountable for making progress towards 
those benchmarks. The bill offered by this Democratic Congress requires 
the Iraqi government

[[Page E674]]

to take steps to disarm the militias, pursue extremist groups, and 
start delivering Iraqi Security Forces to protect Baghdad. It requires 
the Iraqi government to fairly share oil revenues, ensure that 
elections are free and fair, and begin to responsibly allocate and 
spend Iraqi government funds to rebuild the nation of Iraq.
  If the Iraqi government does not take action to disarm the militias, 
and has not taken steps towards political reconciliation and 
responsibility for its own security by July of this year, Americans 
will begin to come home, and will be out of Iraq within 180 days. Most 
importantly, under this bill, American combat troops will begin to 
leave Iraq by March 2008, and will be out of Iraq by August of 2008.
  This is not the bill that many of us want, but it is the best bill we 
are likely to get, and I am going to support it.
  It is not a perfect bill. But it is a step in the right direction--
towards ending the war. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for 
this bill, and for a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. This war has 
cost us 3,225 American lives to date and almost half a trillion 
dollars. It's time for a new direction. It's time for our troops to 
come home.

                          ____________________