[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 72 (Thursday, May 3, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H4469]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A BREAK IN THE PURSUIT OF PEACE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, today the Associated Press reported that in 
the middle of the Iraq civil war, their parliament will be taking a 2-
month break starting in July. While our troops are dying, while they 
are being wounded, while they are trying to provide security to the 
Iraqi people, the Iraqi leadership is planning to take 2 months off.
  I hope that this does not mean that the Iraqis are giving up on 
providing a peaceful resolution to this conflict. If anything, the 
parliament should be rededicating themselves to providing security and 
hope to the Iraqi people, not taking a break, not letting any hope for 
a peaceful resolution slip through their fingers.
  Our best hope for peace in the region, actually, will have to come 
through hard work, through negotiations, through constant attention. 
Every day we turn a blind eye to the real situation on the ground in 
Iraq, more people die, more American troops, more Iraqi civilians die. 
I don't know about anyone else, but this is simply unacceptable to me.
  The American people have said again, and they have said again, that 
they want our troops out of Iraq. This administration must demand that 
the Iraqi leaders stay in town, stay at the table, and not go on 
vacation.
  After all, how can we stand down if the Iraqis aren't there to stand 
up?
  This is a very serious problem, Mr. Speaker. How can we have a 
partnership with the Iraqi people, as our administration has promised, 
a partnership that they say is working to bring peace in Iraq, if half 
of that partnership goes on vacation?
  My position has remained the same from the very beginning: We need to 
fully fund the withdrawal from Iraq. We need to bring our troops and 
military contractors home. We need to provide real and reliable health 
care to our returning troops. We need to work with the international 
community to provide for a dependable and safe future for the Iraqi 
people.
  The way to bring peace to Iraq is not through building walls around 
neighborhoods, creating walled-in villages, breaking up lives and 
breaking up families. The way to bring peace to Iraq is to give 
sovereignty to the Iraqi people and to have a surge of peaceful 
negotiations. The only way to bring about peace is to bring our troops 
home, to empower the Iraqi people to build a future based on hope and 
equality.
  And I ask you, Mr. Speaker, if not now, when?

                          ____________________