[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 12, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H6244-H6245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PRESIDENT REFUSES TO CHANGE COURSE IN IRAQ DESPITE INCREASING VIOLENCE

  (Mr. HODES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HODES. Mr. Speaker, last week the President's new war czar told 
the Congress that the troop escalation plan is failing and that the 
American people should expect sectarian violence in Iraq to continue.
  Finally someone in the administration is making sense of the 
situation on the ground in Iraq, but honesty does not make up for the 
fact that President Bush continues to stubbornly oppose any change in 
war policy.
  In the wake of the deadliest 2-month period in the war, 231 U.S. 
service men and women were killed in April and May. The facts on the 
ground show an increasingly grim picture.
  In fact, a recent internal military assessment shows that the U.S. 
military's plan to secure Baghdad against a rising insurgency is 
falling far short of its goal. To date, according to the document, only 
one-third of the Baghdad

[[Page H6245]]

neighborhoods are under the control of American and Iraqi security 
forces. The administration's goal was to have the entire city under 
control by next month. Clearly, that is no longer possible.
  Despite the continued stubbornness of this President, the Democratic 
Congress will continue to demand that we move this war in a new 
direction.

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