[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 143 (Tuesday, September 25, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H10888]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     END THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ NOW

  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, 9 days ago, 11 innocent Iraqi civilian were 
killed in an incident involving American military contractors. The 
circumstances surrounding the tragedy are not clear, but what is clear 
is that not enough attention has been paid to civilian deaths in Iraq.
  By the most conservative count, over 73,000 innocent Iraqi civilians 
have been killed since the occupation began. Just about everyone agrees 
that the real figure is much higher, since many deaths aren't even 
reported. But even if you accept the low 73,000 figure, you can see how 
catastrophic the occupation has been to Iraqi society.
  The population of the United States is about 12 times greater than 
that of Iraq, so 73,000 Iraqi deaths are comparable to over 875,000 
American deaths. That is more than the population of Cleveland and 
Kansas City combined, or Atlanta and Omaha combined. This 875,000 is 
more than the population of an entire congressional district.
  I would also like to call my colleagues' attention to the article in 
The Washington Post this morning concerning civilian casualties in 
Iraq. The article points out that the Pentagon's official count of 
civilian casualties in Iraq shows an increase over the course of this 
year. This is in stark contrast to the charts that General Petraeus 
showed us in his testimony earlier this month, which only showed the 
narrower category of civilian deaths. This is further evidence, Mr. 
Speaker, that General Petraeus' testimony was part of an overall 
administration spin campaign to convince this Congress and the American 
people to keep their support for ``stay the course'' in Iraq.
  Iraqi civilians are also suffering, because the violence has forced 
over 4 million of them to become refugees. The U.N. referred 11,000 
refugee applicants to the United States for processing by the end of 
this fiscal year. In February, the United States promised to admit 
7,000. Then that number was downgraded to 2,000. But, so far, only 
1,035 refugees have been admitted, and the fiscal year expires in 5 
days. This situation is like so many others we have seen during the 
occupation of Iraq. The administration makes big promises about what it 
can achieve, then retreats from its promises, and then fails to deliver 
altogether.
  To make our refugee record even worse, the Government Accountability 
Office has reported that the number of condolence payments the United 
States Government pays to families of dead or injured Iraqi civilians 
plunged by 66 percent from the year 2005 to 2006. The condolence 
payments are, at most, $2,500, $2,500 per incident. Would any one of us 
consider $2,500 to be a condolence payment for the death of a beloved 
child or spouse? No, Mr. Speaker, we wouldn't.
  This Congress will have failed America, both morally and politically, 
if we allow the occupation to continue and ignore the suffering of the 
innocent. We have only one real tool that we can use to end the 
occupation, the power of the purse. We must not appropriate another 
dime for the continuation of the occupation. Instead, we must fully 
fund the safe, orderly, and responsible withdrawal of our troops and 
the estimated 180,000 military contractors who constitute an even 
larger army than our 160,000 troops. This is what the American people 
sent us here to do, and we have a moral obligation to do it. We have an 
obligation to bring our troops home.

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