[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 33 (Thursday, February 28, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H1159]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   OFFICERS SAY IRAQ WAR HAS STRETCHED MILITARY ``DANGEROUSLY THIN''

  (Mr. MORAN of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, 5 years after the start of the 
war in Iraq, a new authoritative poll shows the growing concern of U.S. 
military officers about the impact of the war in Iraq on our Nation's 
security. The poll is based on the opinions of 3,400 present and former 
military officers. Eighty-eight percent of these officers believe that 
the demands of the Iraq war have ``stretched the U.S. military 
dangerously thin.'' Eighty percent of the military officers believe it 
is unreasonable to expect that the U.S. could respond to any new 
military threat in another part of the world. And nearly three-quarters 
of the officers believe civilian leaders set ``unreasonable goals for 
the military in post-Saddam Iraq.''
  Clearly, the Bush administration is not listening to its own military 
officers. In fact, before the start of the Iraq war, not one single 
military officer believed that Iraq had anything to do with the war on 
terrorism. And yet President Bush is determined to continue this war 
irregardless of his military's own concerns.
  Mr. Speaker, the war in Iraq has undermined our Nation's military 
strength and our readiness and, therefore, our national security.

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