[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 153 (Wednesday, October 10, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H11468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF IRAQ AUMF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to commemorate a sad and 
very tragic anniversary in our Nation's history. Five years ago today, 
over my strong objections and the objections of many of my colleagues, 
Congress voted to authorize the use of force against Iraq.
  This campaign of shock and awe was a campaign that shocked us all. It 
was hard to believe that this administration, based on what little 
information they had, would move in and bomb and invade Iraq.
  I often wonder what would have happened had the House approved the 
amendment that I offered that would have allowed the United Nations 
inspectors to finish their jobs. If my amendment had passed, and from 
what I remember, there were about 72 ``yes'' votes on that amendment, 
inspectors would have made it clear what we believed then and what the 
world knows now, that there were no weapons of mass destruction in 
Iraq. And how sad it was to see a great general, military man, then 
Secretary of State, Secretary of State Colin Powell, go to the United 
Nations and cherry-pick information to present to the world to try to 
convince the world and to convince this Congress to vote to invade and 
bomb Iraq.
  Five years later, the President's failed policy in Iraq has claimed 
the lives of more than 3,800 brave service men and women, nearly 30,000 
wounded, and countless Iraqi civilians, and yet we heard many years ago 
that the mission was accomplished.
  This has cost us more than $400 billion, nearly a half trillion 
dollars, with the President poised to ask for $200 billion more, and no 
end in sight. The invasion and occupation of Iraq has undermined our 
Nation's security and the security of the world.
  Along with Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Maxine Waters, many of our 
colleagues in the Progressive Caucus and in the Out of Iraq Caucus have 
indicated that we in Congress have the power, and we know we have the 
power, it is a constitutional mandate and requirement, to end the 
President's failed policy in Iraq. And today, we worked together, over 
the last few weeks, to put together the information so that this 
morning we could release a poll today that shows that the American 
people support us in doing this.
  The President wants to pretend that Congress's only choice is to 
provide funds that he has requested unconditionally or cut off funding 
for our troops. This is a false choice, and we cannot buy into that 
argument. We can use our constitutionally mandated appropriations power 
to end his failed policy, to protect our troops and contractors, and to 
bring them home. We have the power to fully fund redeployment, and that 
is what we must do.
  Our poll found that 70 percent of those surveyed rejected giving the 
President further funding for Iraq without conditions, and people 
favored requiring funds be spent on redeployment over providing the 
administration funds without conditions. And this was by a 2-1 margin. 
So, with the support of the American people, we will continue to build 
support in Congress for fully funding redeployment.
  We wrote to the President of the United States to indicate that that 
is the only way he will get our vote for any funds for this very tragic 
occupation and tragic civil war that we find ourselves in now. Now we 
have maybe 86, 87 Members who have committed to this strategy because 
they know that this is the only way we can end this.
  The truth is, the President's ``stay the course'' strategy provides 
an exit strategy really for him at the expense of our troops. It allows 
him to run out the clock on his failed policy and to slip out the door, 
to leave the American people holding the bag.
  How many of our troops should die so that the President can save 
face? How large of a sacrifice must we make of our children's and 
grandchildren's future so that the President can avoid just admitting 
that he was wrong?
  The President is not going to take responsibility for this failed 
policy, we've seen that and we know that now, so the Congress must. We 
must act. And the best way for us to do that is to fully fund the safe, 
timely, and responsible redeployment of our troops and contractors from 
Iraq.
  So on this somber anniversary, we must remind our colleagues of what 
happened and how we got to this place; but also we must stand tall and 
say we will bring our young men and women home, and we will end this 
occupation soon.

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