[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 9, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2128-H2134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1945
          OUR ONGOING MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC MISSION IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor tonight to talk about 
the ongoing military and diplomatic mission in Iraq and to discuss the 
recent testimonies given to Congress by General David Petraeus and 
Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Make no mistake, the situation in Iraq is the 
most significant issue that we, in Congress, face today. Our troops on 
the frontlines of the battlefield, our constituents back home, and the 
world look upon the actions and the debates in this body to determine 
our resolve.
  First, let me thank the men and women serving in our Armed Forces, 
the diplomatic corps who are serving in that country, and our Foreign 
Service officers on the ground who all serve so nobly under difficult 
circumstances. They make our Nation great. And we owe them a debt of 
gratitude that can never be adequately repaid.
  There are three observations that I have that drive my views and 
understanding of the current efforts being made in Iraq. First, the 
plan that was implemented about a year ago is working. General Petraeus 
and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are leading an effort to bring stability 
into Baghdad and areas throughout Iraq because they have the 
flexibility and the necessary resources to respond to changes on the 
ground. This plan is more than just simply 30,000 troops in country. 
The troops are placed strategically.
  And we also have civilian personnel and diplomats on the ground 
working to help build up the political institutions from the ground up 
as we work with the central government so that hopefully as the two 
meet, we will end up with a stable Iraq that has sovereignty that can 
protect its borders and that can build institutions on its own and that 
can protect minority rights. Second, America can complete this mission 
successfully. Given the appropriate support and guidance, our troops 
and diplomats will succeed. And third, clearly, challenges remain. Both 
General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker outlined these challenges.
  The positive trends as a result of this plan continue from last 
summer, and we will highlight those. But we understand many challenges 
remain before us, and clearly these challenges were outlined by these 
two gentlemen before Congress. I want to mention that failure in Iraq 
would have serious repercussions and dire consequences for U.S. foreign 
policy as well as for global security.

  Most importantly, our efforts to stop terrorist organizations would 
be hindered. Secondly, the ability for us and others to deal with the 
Israeli-Palestinian peace process will become much more difficult. 
Thirdly, efforts to minimize Iran's dangerous mischief in this region 
will be diminished. And finally, stabilizing the broader Middle East 
will be exceedingly difficult if we fail in Iraq. Clearly, the cost and 
the consequences of failure are far too high.
  As Members of Congress, we must listen to the professional judgments 
of the American leadership we have currently serving in Iraq and work 
with them to create and support policies that will successfully 
complete our mission.
  Congress has a serious responsibility here. These two gentlemen and 
the work that they have done in Iraq has been outstanding and should be 
applauded. And we need to support them. And we need to have a serious 
debate here in Congress on what steps we need to take to continue to 
support this effort so that we are successful in Iraq.
  Tonight, my colleagues and I will offer our thoughts on the situation 
there in Iraq, our reflections from recent trips and how we have moved 
forward. I want to encourage everyone who is listening to seek out and 
read the testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. Read it 
carefully because it is very thoughtfully put together. They have 
provided an unvarnished account of what is happening on the ground, and 
it is the most accurate assessment of the situation. And that is what 
policy should be based upon. This House now has the responsibility to 
the American people to truthfully assess their testimonies.
  At this point, I would like to pause and introduce my good friend 
from Texas (Mr. Conaway). He is a member of the Armed Services 
Committee. He heard the testimony this afternoon, and he'll make some 
comments.
  Mr. CONAWAY. I thank the gentleman from Louisiana, my friend, my 
classmate of the Class of 2005. I am glad to be with you tonight. I did 
sit today through General Petraeus' testimony, as well as Ambassador 
Crocker's testimony, and then later in the afternoon, we heard from 
both General Richard Cody, as well as General Robert Magnus, Army Vice 
Chief, and the Marine Corps Vice Chief respectively, on the status of 
our current forces. And I would like to talk about kind of a 
combination of those conversations that we heard today.
  Ambassador Crocker was asked, what does success look like in Iraq? We 
ought to know both sides of the equation, both sides of the coin of 
success and failure. He described ``success'' in Iraq as an Iraq that 
is developed into a

[[Page H2129]]

united, stable country with a democratically elected government that 
operates under the rule of law. And that is a path that they are on to.
  Ambassador Crocker also said today that just because something is 
hard, as this mission is, does not make it impossible, does not mean it 
is hopeless simply because it is hard. We have seen some progress on 
the government side, the national government as well as the provincial 
government side, in making progress. This surge, as it has been 
described, was intended to reduce violence as your chart shows. It was 
intended to allow the government to begin to function in an atmosphere 
where daily death was not an issue, but they could have the 
conversations and the sharp disagreements from a debate standpoint on 
how to run that country. And they have made some progress, not nearly 
as much we would like, but Ambassador Crocker pointed out today that 
something as simple as an Iraqi flag, the Council of Representatives 
and the leadership have adopted a national flag that now flies 
throughout the country. The Kurds would not fly the flag that had flown 
previous to that because it had such a connection to Saddam Hussein. 
And so something just as simple as rallying around a single flag, and 
we all know how important our flag is to us in its representation to 
our country, they have been able to do that, and now a common Iraqi 
flag flies over that country.
  They have executed a 2008 budget recently in September which provides 
for record amounts of infrastructure spending, oil revenues that they 
are getting from these record high oil prices that they are now plowing 
back into the infrastructure that every government would have to do 
that is in that circumstance. They have passed a pension law that 
addresses some of the pension issues related to people that were there. 
They have passed an accountability and justice law after vigorous 
debate on both sides because this deals with de-Baathification, in 
other words, that process of bringing those Iraqi citizens who had 
previously been Baath party members under Saddam Hussein, ferreting out 
those who had sold out to Saddam's thuggery and really just have to be 
retired, and those who simply were members of the Baath party in order 
to have a job, in order to be a schoolteacher, in order to be a local 
administrator. They passed a Provincial Powers Act which deals with the 
elections that are coming up in October, elections which now all major 
parties have endorsed and they are going to support and will come to 
the table including the Sunnis.
  And these are not earth shattering. They are not all that they need 
to do. But this is a clear line of march down a path that this surge, 
with its sacrifices that had been made, has provided a space to get 
that done, and they are making progress. We all want them to make much 
more progress than they have made. We want them to be quicker than they 
have currently been.
  Today, General Petraeus told us that his team on the ground seized 
the successes that they have had and take great comfort in that. They 
take great pride in what they are doing. One of the issues that comes 
up is continuing to replace the number of folks in our Army that we 
need, I'm speaking specifically of the Army. Third, he told us today 
the third I.D. has met its April goal for total re-enlistments already 
just from people serving in Iraq. General Cody participated in a re-
enlistment service earlier this month in Iraq. Men who were defending 
their country today signed up for additional tours and additional 
extensions on their service to this country, which is an incredibly 
heartening issue.
  As I said, ``hard'' does not mean hopeless. But imagine how much 
easier this fight would be if every American recognized enemy 
propaganda for what that really is and could parse that out of what we 
try to think about. Imagine if every American would not tolerate 
inaccurate reporting and biased reporting out of our media, how much 
easier our tasks might be. Imagine if all those Americans who oppose 
this war, and have every right to, would refrain from using rhetoric 
that is cast just to discourage our fighters, just to cause our 
veterans to question their service to our country.
  And the easy one is imagine how much easier this fight would have 
been had Congress provided the funding on a timely basis through the 
supplemental process that we have been doing it on. We have a large 
supplemental that is hung up. It was requested last summer, and this 
Congress has sat on its fist, leaning back on its thumb for 7 months 
now, waiting for who knows what. I think it is waiting until next week 
rolls around, quite frankly.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Would the gentleman yield? I want to amplify on that. 
That delay really caused a lot of problems, particularly as the State 
Department tried to mobilize its part of the surge. It really froze 
their efforts for a while, and so there was a delay in getting those 
personnel on the ground to amplify what was being done from a security 
standpoint.
  And I was meeting yesterday with SSG Paul Gwimes in my office. He 
served with the 256th in Iraq. He told me, and I have seen this when I 
have gone over there on two previous occasions, our men and women watch 
these news programs, and they watch C-SPAN, and they hear what we say. 
And it has an impact. We need to do everything we can to support them. 
I yield back to my friend.
  Mr. CONAWAY. I thank my colleague for that.
  More on the spending issue, which is totally within the Members of 
this body's control, starting with the leadership of this House, 
dictates the pace at which that legislation should come to us. We 
should have already dealt with it a long time ago. But since we 
haven't, there are some pending consequences for not getting that done 
quickly.
  By mid June, the military personnel account will be exhausted, and 
all military services will have to begin shifting money around, which, 
again, is just a back office accounting thing. But it delays purchasing 
the long lead items that are necessary to be bought out of this 
supplemental. This supplemental is intended not only to pay for the 
fight that is going on immediately, but it is also to pay for 
replacement of equipment and gear that is being destroyed and worn out 
as we fight this fight. That gear is special. You don't go down to your 
local Ford dealer and pick up a pickup truck. It takes long lead times 
to actually get that money set in place. So while we casually ignore 
it, we do so at the peril of our young men and women who fight this 
fight.
  I want to recount to you a story. I've been to Iraq five times now to 
visit our troops and hug their necks and tell them ``thank you.'' 
Probably my most memorable trip was Christmas Day of 2006. I was there 
with Ike Skelton and a couple of other Members of Congress. And it was 
particularly meaningful to be away from my family and be with men and 
women who are away from their families, to share that experience. I was 
only away from my family for about 5 or 6 days, nothing like the 15-
month deployments that our men and women are enduring right now. But 
nevertheless, it was great to be there with them.
  At Camp Victory, we went out to a perimeter fence where this 
particular Kentucky National Guard unit was guarding this fence for the 
base. And a Lieutenant Colonel Lutrell had come out, having just 
returned from a trip outside the wire. He had gone to a mosque. You 
could see the minarets just across our fence. And he had gone over 
there to talk to the cleric about some sort of a neighborhood watch 
program because of what was happening. There was an elementary school 
right near there that some Shia gunmen and thugs were sneaking into and 
using that platform to shoot at our men and women walking that wire. So 
this lieutenant colonel had gone to the imam, or cleric, there, because 
it was a Sunni neighborhood. He said, we could work out a deal. If you 
just give us the heads up, we will stop that. It helps you because they 
are just trying to force us to fire back at them into the school. And 
they were taking the chance of hurting their guys. So he was discussing 
with us about what was going on. And a young buck sergeant kind of 
eased up to kind of the back side of the deal. And I was standing 
looking at the name tags, and it was Lieutenant Colonel Lutrell and it 
was Sergeant Lutrell. And when I got a chance to say something, I said, 
you two men have the same last name. And the lieutenant colonel said, 
let me introduce you to

[[Page H2130]]

my son, Sergeant Lutrell. And my comment was, sir, your wife and his 
mother must be a saint to be able to endure having two very, I assume, 
very important men in her life in harm's way. But that is indicative of 
the kind of commitment to country, commitment to duty, and commitment 
to that flag that is played out hundreds and hundreds and thousands of 
times every single day over the last 6 or 7 years that we have been in 
the fight, good men and women stepping forward, putting education on 
hold, putting families on hold, putting family decisions on hold, while 
they went to do a job that not very many people are qualified to do, 
not very many people are willing to do.
  So in the words of Ambassador Crocker today, our current course is 
hard, but it is working.
  I look forward to some additional dialogue with my good colleague a 
little later in this hour.

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the gentleman.
  I would like to now yield time to my good friend Judge Carter from 
Texas. He is a member of the Appropriations Committee and the Foreign 
Operations Subcommittee. He knows a little bit about what is going on 
in Iraq. He has been there. I would love to hear what he has to say.
  Mr. CARTER. I thank my friend for yielding, and I thank my friend for 
holding this special order this night where we try to lay the truth out 
about what is going on with our soldiers.
  I have had the opportunity to go to Iraq on four different occasions 
and visit with soldiers. I am a blessed Congressman in that I have the 
very privilege and honor of representing Fort Hood, Texas. Fort Hood, 
Texas, is the only two division post in America, and both of those 
divisions are now famous for operations that have taken place in Iraq.
  The 4th Infantry Division, one of the divisions at Fort Hood, 
captured Saddam Hussein. The 1st Calvary Division put on a free 
election in Baghdad. Both were major accomplishments in this war, major 
accomplishments in the future of Iraq, and the blood, sweat and tears 
that went into those projects have been brought back to central Texas 
on numerous occasions. So it is clearly an honor for me to be able to 
stand up and talk about what is going on in Iraq and why we, in my 
opinion, my humble opinion, and I think the opinion of those who really 
think about the issues, it is my opinion that we must stay the course.
  What I want to be able to promise, I want to look every soldier that 
I see, and I see soldiers every week because I go back home every week 
and I go visit these soldiers, and I see them and I tell them what I 
want for them is I want them to come home, just like every American 
wants those soldiers to come home. But when the 4th Infantry Division, 
III Corps and the 1st Calvary Division and all those the other fine 
soldiers march out of Iraq, I want to see them marching out under ``The 
Star Spangled Banner'' and the red, white and blue, and not the white 
flag, and that is what they want too.
  Every soldier I have spoken to, bar none, has told me they are doing 
a good job, they are winning, they will win, they want to stay the 
course. They want to finish the job they started. They say they owe it 
to their fallen comrades. They owe it to the effort they have put 
forward on behalf of humanity in Iraq.
  I get real upset and tired when I hear people ragging on and 
insulting and writing stories about the ``evil American soldier.'' The 
evil American soldier that they describe doesn't exist. American 
soldiers are some of the closest things to sainthood that I have seen, 
because they are willing to stand up and fight for people, in many 
cases that don't even like them.
  But what is really wonderful and what has changed in Iraq and what 
needs to be recognized by everyone is the last time I was over there in 
July, previous to that I was over there in May of 2006. First let me 
tell you, May of 2006 the weather was a lot better than the last day of 
July in 2007, and it was, as we say in Texas, it was hotter than a $3 
pistol over there. But, seriously, when I went over this time, the 
difference was the interaction between ordinary Iraqi civilians and 
United States marines and United States soldiers. And they all talked 
about it at length, and I saw it demonstrated.
  Prior to that time, I had never seen an Iraqi policeman anywhere. 
When we were in Ramadi, there was a pickup truck full of policemen on 
every corner and they were patrolling the streets, and people, ordinary 
people, were doing ordinary business in an area that had at one time 
been the bloodiest battlefield in Iraq, where they had pounded each 
other for days across this five-lane road. Now, ordinary Iraqi citizens 
of all ages, dressed all different ways, men and women and children, 
were walking, going about ordinary business there, addressing United 
States soldiers and United States marines, talking to them, discussing 
things with them, discussing things with their local politicians. It 
was an amazing turnaround. Amazing.
  I talked to a young soldier, he couldn't have been more than about 
19, a tow-headed kid, and I said, ``Tell me how it has changed?'' He 
said, ``Well, sir, you know, they plant these explosive devices in 
these streets and they plant them in the curbs and they plant them in 
garbage cans.'' He said, ``Boy, we used to crawl down these streets, 
watching everything, looking everywhere, just really concerned that the 
next step might blow up on us. Now we approach the streets and a member 
of the Friends of Iraq,'' I believe it is called, they have a belt 
across their chest, ``steps out and says, `Excuse me, but don't go down 
this street. There is an explosive device planted in the middle of 
street. The arms of the other explosives are in that blue building over 
there. And one block over, the green front building, that is where the 
guys who planted it are.' '' He said, ``Sir, that makes life a whole 
lot easier for a marine patrolling the streets here.'' You know what? 
That is a good story, because that is Iraqis talking to soldiers.
  We visited with sheiks, and they told us that they had come to the 
realization when al Qaeda began to kidnap their families and try to 
make them take certain positions by kidnapping their families, they 
realized, like a revelation, who the bad guys were.
  Americans had never kidnapped their families. Americans had never 
intimidated them in that fashion. They had never seen anything from 
American soldiers but trying to help, picking up the garbage, trying to 
make the sewer work, trying to make the electrical plant work. And then 
they realized these people were kidnapping their children and in many 
instances killing their children to try to pressure the sheiks to get 
their tribes to do certain things. So the sheiks said, that is it. That 
is it. We have had enough of this. And they went to their tribes and 
they told them, we are going to join the Americans.
  These were Sunnis. So the first thing, of course, that we had to be 
concerned about was we hear so much about the difference between Sunnis 
and Shias, the sectarian violence. Was this going to create a rift in 
Iraq? We heard this story.
  We have got General Funk who is a very good friend of mine who lives 
in my district. His son is in command in another location in Iraq. I 
also went to visit him while I was over there. He is a colonel. He told 
me that the week before, I think it was 11 or 12 Shiite sheiks came to 
his place where he was settled in and wanted to meet him and said, ``We 
have decided to join in helping the Americans get rid of al Qaeda.'' So 
that is the whole story.
  Those of us who can remember back to the Vietnam War, we were told we 
were going to win the hearts and the minds of the people and that is 
how you won this type of war. We haven't heard that term in this war, 
but I remember that term. And the difference is, we never quite won the 
hearts and minds of the people because of mistakes that were made.
  General Petraeus' plan was to capture the hearts and minds of the 
Iraqi people on our side, and I believe he is succeeding, and I 
believe, given the tools, he will continue to succeed. I can tell you 
one thing, he has got the best fighting force that ever walked on this 
Earth and the best bunch of human beings that are trying to help him do 
it, and we should support them in every form or fashion. That is what I 
think this war is all about. That is how we will walk out under the 
red, white and blue, and not a white flag.

[[Page H2131]]

  So I thank my friend for yielding to me.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank my friend. That is very compelling.
  I had a similar situation back in August when we went to Fallujah, 
and I want to pay tribute to General Walter Gaskin, because he was on 
the ground, a Marine general, implementing this plan through Fallujah. 
They used their resources strategically to reach out to these sheiks 
and local leaders and tribal leaders, and it made all the difference in 
the world.
  I remember loading up in an MRAP with him in a convey. We drove into 
Fallujah, and it was the most remarkable thing I have done since I have 
been a Congressman, because just weeks before, General Gaskin told us 
you couldn't go down this road without hitting an IED or getting shot 
at.
  So we drove around some of the streets of Fallujah and then we got 
out and walked. And we walked four or five blocks to a joint security 
station with our marines and with the Iraqi police. And the first 
marine I came up to at the security station happened to be from 
my district in Abbeville, and we traded stories and talked about good 
Cajun food and all that. But I sure was proud of him. I called his 
parents when I got back and we talked.

  You know, it just makes you feel good knowing these young men and 
women are just dedicated and they are doing what they have to do, and 
they are the best that humanity has to offer. I agree with you, Judge.
  Then we met with the precinct police colonel who was so proud of the 
efforts, and he showed us how much success they had had because they 
were implementing Iraqi solutions to the security in Fallujah. And now 
Fallujah is growing. The population is coming back. Businesses are 
opening.
  I walked into a small shop and met a shopkeeper with his young son 
and talked with them through a translator. We handed out candy to 
children in the streets. We encountered a group of young children 
playing soccer in the streets, another group of adolescents and young 
men playing volleyball, and it was quite a remarkable scene to 
experience. So I had a similar situation, and it is really a tribute to 
our men and women who are down there on the ground doing this job.
  Mr. CARTER. Absolutely. You know, a story I love to tell, because it 
was so funny, Kevin Brady, our colleague from Texas, was a chamber of 
commerce representative for a long time before he came to Congress. Of 
course, he worked for the local county commissioners, courts and city 
council and things like that.
  Well, when we were in Ramadi we walked into the market, and there was 
this old man, and he looked like the ancient age, sitting in the chair 
in front of a kind of a destroyed shop. Right next door was another 
shop where a guy was putting wares out and getting ready to sell 
something. We were walking in with the general and also with the newly-
elected mayor.
  Well, immediately he called to have the mayor come over there, and he 
told the mayor, he said, ``Look,'' he said. ``You fixed his shop up. I 
want to know what the timetable is for fixing my shop up.'' And the 
mayor said, ``Oh, well, you know, we are getting the resources in. We 
will get it done.'' He said, ``Well, I am going to hold you to your 
promise, and I am going to come by the city hall and I am going to 
check on this, because I need my shop up so I can start operating 
too.''
  Brady leaned over to me and says, ``It sounds like somebody at the 
city council meeting in The Woodlands in Texas.''
  So, you know, that is the kind of normalcy we want to see start to 
happen, where people are starting to think about living their life, not 
dodging and ducking for their life. So to me that is a good story. That 
is a story that says peace is breaking out in some small area anyway, 
because this little old man wanted his shop open. That is a great 
story.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. That peace is breaking out because of this plan that 
has been implemented. And we have seen dramatic results, yet those 
results are still fragile and still tenuous, as both Ambassador Crocker 
and General Petraeus have stated. But yet it is real progress, and we 
have an obligation to continue on this path so that we eventually see 
real stability in Iraq.
  Mr. CARTER. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. You know, it is very important, 
there has been a lot of talk about this latest fight down in Basra. 
Fifteen thousand Iraqis went into the fight there and there has been a 
lot of talk about over 1,000 of those Iraqis ran. That is kind of 
looking at that glass half full or half empty. Yes, maybe 1,000 or more 
soldiers turned and ran, but 14,000 stayed and fought.
  If you went 3 years ago when I went on my second trip to Iraq and I 
sat down at a dinner table with a bunch of ordinary soldiers and said 
what are we trying to accomplish over here? And they said, sir, when 
they think about their units the way we think about our units, they 
will be a qualified fighting force over here, and we are trying to 
instill that in them.
  I say 14,000 of them acted like soldiers, and that is something we 
should be proud of.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. That is absolutely true and important. Not only that, 
Prime Minister al-Maliki made the decision to employ those troops in 
Basra, to take it into his own hands, and that was a huge move, because 
before he was afraid to confront the Jaish al-Mahdi and those 
insurgents. Not only that, Muqtada al-Sadr was partly responsible for 
helping position Maliki in as prime minister, and before he refused to 
take action against them when they are were doing unlawful activities.
  For him to take that step was large. It was huge. And even though 
operationally it didn't go as smoothly as we hoped, it was a big step 
for them to go forward to do this, and that is a sign that things have 
changed. And we are seeing a change at the central level as well as 
what has been accomplished at the local level. As those two efforts 
merge, we will see a stable Iraq.

                              {time}  2015

  Mr. CARTER. That's right. I thank the gentleman for recognizing me.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  Now I would like to yield some time to a good friend who has been 
patiently waiting here, Dr. Gingrey of Georgia, a fellow physician, a 
member of the Armed Services Committee who has traveled to Iraq, and we 
would like to hear what he has to say.
  Mr. GINGREY. I thank my colleague from Louisiana, my fellow 
physician, for yielding. It's great to be here with two fine Texans, my 
classmate Judge Carter and also Mr. Conaway, and talk about this 
important issue, because this is a very important week.
  Representative Conaway and I both serve on the House Armed Services 
Committee, and my colleagues, Madam Speaker, as you, of course, know, 
you are a member of the committee as well, that we heard from General 
Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker here on the House side. The Foreign 
Affairs Committee did as well yesterday, the same thing on the Senate 
side.
  It was also just unbelievable the negative approach and attitude that 
so many members of our committee, this body, the other body, the 
majority party, had toward them in September, saying, you know, this 
surge is too little too late, the war is lost, it's a hopeless cause, 
there's nothing that you can do militarily, and, besides, there are all 
these benchmarks that the Iraqi Government has not met, and it's a 
failed state, we need to bring the troops home.
  Well, thank God we did not bring the troops home at that time. Here 
we are, 10 months later, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker 
returned and reported to the Congress. Almost every, indeed, every 
measure, every metric that you look at, they presented to us in chart 
form. Dr. Boustany has one of those charts with him tonight in regard 
to the decrease in civilian deaths. He may want to talk about that 
later, but there is no question that in regard to security, tremendous, 
tremendous progress has been made. We are getting on top of this thing, 
and General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker both said that.
  There were questions from Members, particularly on the Democratic 
side of the aisle, on the House Armed Services Committee, to suggest 
that while there was progress made militarily, there was none, no 
progress made politically.
  These points were addressed, these questions to Ambassador Crocker, 
about, well, how about all these benchmarks that we asked for back in 
September?

[[Page H2132]]

  Well, you know, the fact is the political surge, my colleagues, has 
been just about as successful as the military surge, and the progress 
that we have made, and Congressman Conaway talked about that just a 
little bit earlier in regard to de-Ba'athification, and he explained 
what is meant by that, and I know my colleagues understand that, to 
bring these people back in, the Sunnis that didn't have jobs, they had 
no way of surviving other than maybe getting paid to do bad things to 
our troops and to their Shia countrymen.
  It was important that the Iraqi Government do that. The Iraqi 
Government scheduled provincial elections, which are now scheduled for 
October of this year, that the Iraqi Government do something in regard 
to oil sharing to actually have legislation in place that spells out 
that just because the oil in the country of Iraq happens to be located 
in maybe a Shia area or a Kurdish area, that the Sunnis still, as 
fellow Iraqis, should have a share in that revenue.
  Well, de facto, they are doing that. Ambassador Crocker basically 
told us that of the 18 benchmarks, 12 of them have now been met, and 
that of the additional 6, there is significant progress on 4.
  Anyone that suggests that there is not progress made politically just 
has to have a willing suspension of disbelief, as someone in the other 
body quoted, I think, last year and actually said that, too. I wonder 
what she would say today, based on these statistics, to ignore these 
metrics, would require the willing suspension of brain power. It is 
clear as the nose on your face, but yet certain people refuse to 
believe it.
  What distresses me too now is those Members who want us to come home 
are using a different argument. They are saying not only that we've 
spent too much money but also making this statement, and if my 
colleague will bear with me for a couple of more minutes, they are 
making the statement that our troops are tired, they have been there 
too long, the equipment is wearing out and that, God forbid, there may 
be another conflict that's just going to break out somewhere in the 
world, which does occur, I guess, on average, maybe every 5 years.
  They are saying that for that reason, totally ignoring what success 
we have achieved on the ground, that we really have victory almost in 
the palm of our hands. It's not there yet, it's fragile. We all admit 
that. But let's bring them home and prepare them for the next conflict.
  Well, my colleagues, they may be, these troops that Judge Carter, Mr. 
Conaway and Dr. Boustany talked about, these personal anecdotes that 
they gave tonight, in talking about the enthusiasm, the morale and the 
patriotism of these troops, if you bring them back home when they are 
just on the cusp of victory, having left, then, 4,000 of their 
colleagues dead, men and women, and probably 25,000 severely wounded, 
they come home without a victory, like Judge Carter says, with a white 
flag rather than Old Glory, I don't care how much you rest them, I 
don't care how much you re-equip them, I don't care how much you give 
them, more manpower or reset them, when you send them to this next 
contingency, I am going to ask them how hard they are going to fight. 
What's their morale going to be like then?
  I think that's what this is all about. I think that's what the 
American people need to understand and that's what our colleagues in 
this body need to understand.
  We cannot let public opinion polls and political pressure, because of 
an upcoming election, drive the decisions that are so important to the 
safety and security and the well-being of this country. I think it's 
clear, it was very clear to me. I had this very question written out 
that I wanted to ask General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.
  Unfortunately, as my colleagues know, if you are down on the lower 
row, Madam Speaker knows that, a lot of times they don't get to you 
before the clock runs out. I did submit this for the Record. I would 
like to know the answer to that question, I think the answer will be 
just as exactly as I expect. We can't worry about the next battle, we 
have got to win this one first.
  I wanted to make those points to my colleagues. At this point I will 
yield back to the gentleman from Louisiana.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. CARTER. If you would yield for just a moment.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. I will be happy to yield.
  Mr. CARTER. Hearing the comments of Dr. Gingrey, I was at the Vets 
for Freedom rally this morning, and someone read an e-mail that they 
had received from a captain in the field, and he said, it went 
something like this, I started my morning at daybreak, and I have been 
on three missions today. I have gotten home and I immediately went and 
checked the evening news, as we all do here in Iraq, to see what folks 
were saying back home, and I saw someone say ``I support the warriors, 
but I don't support the war.'' He said, ``Sir, we are the war.''

  I think that's something we ought to remember. As far as they are 
concerned, not supporting their effort is not supporting them. We need 
to remember that before we hurt feelings.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Every American should remember that.
  Mr. GINGREY. If the gentleman would yield just for a second, just to 
follow up on what Judge Carter said, yes, this rally he was talking 
about was over on the Senate side in the park. John McCain, of course, 
was there and got such a round of applause and appreciation for his 
stance, his service, his patriotism, his service, his suffering during 
the Vietnam war. I stood on the dais with my fellow Members in a 
bipartisan way, there were Democrats there as well. I felt real proud.
  I looked at these young veterans for freedom, just looking at their 
faces, one of them in the back had a sign, and the sign said ``General 
Petraeus, he is General Hooray Us,'' General Hooray Us is a take on 
what the New York Times did last year when General Petraeus came in 
anticipation of his testimony, ran that article. Of course, the New 
York Times didn't run the article, but it printed it. I think 
MoveOn.org or one of these organizations ran the article, half page, 
full page that said, ``General Petraeus or General Betray Us,'' a sad 
point in our history.
  God bless these veterans for freedom.
  Mr. CARTER. Amen, brother.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. That's a perfect lead-in, because I want to talk a 
little bit about these two gentlemen who are leading this effort on the 
ground because I don't know if a lot of Americans really know about 
their background.
  General Petraeus was a former commander of the 101st Airborne 
Division, and as many history buffs will remember, they were very 
famous for the first deployments behind German lines on D-Day. So that 
group, that division has a very illustrious history. Former Secretary 
of State Colin Powell was also a former commander of the 101st 
Airborne.
  Not many people know this, but General Petraeus has a Ph.D. from 
Princeton University in international relations, and he is also an 
assistant professor of international relations at West Point.
  He is a coauthor of the counter-insurgency manual that our military 
uses, and that's what they have actually implemented on the ground, and 
that's why we are seeing this great success.
  Ambassador Crocker, there is a quote from his swearing in when he was 
sworn in as ambassador to Iraq, and I am going to quote Ambassador 
Crocker. He says, ``We have a historic challenge ahead of us. 
Terrorists, insurgents, militias continue to threaten security in 
Baghdad and around the country. Security is, without question, the 
central issue.''
  In a very real sense it has been for at least the last four decades. 
I was here in the 1970s. There was no security. Iraqis everywhere lived 
in terror of the midnight knock on the door. Neighbors were afraid to 
talk to neighbors. It truly was the republic of fear.
  Then came the savage Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein's brutality to his 
own people, Desert Storm, and finally his overthrow in 2003. Those are 
all the things that the Iraqi people have had to endure in recent 
history.
  This gentleman has a tremendous background as well. In January 2002 
he was sent to Afghanistan to reopen the American embassy in Kabul. He 
received the Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for ``exceptional courage 
and

[[Page H2133]]

leadership'' in Afghanistan. He was ambassador to Pakistan in 2004-
2007, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern 
Affairs 2001-2003, and he has served as ambassador to Syria, Kuwait and 
Lebanon. In fact, he was at post in Lebanon in Beirut when our embassy 
was bombed there in 1983.
  This gentleman has had tremendous experience in the Arab world, as 
has General Petraeus, and it's one measure of their integrity that they 
have provided this accurate testimony first back in September and now, 
to give us an accurate appraisal of what's happening in Iraq.

                              {time}  2030

  Now, let's talk a little bit about what is going on and look at a few 
trends.
  I have a chart here that shows by different metrics, two different 
metrics, the Iraqi and coalition in purple, and in the blue it is 
coalition data. This shows the trend line. You can see how the number 
of civilian deaths by both tracks had gone up, particularly in the 2006 
and 2007 time frame, and now as we get down to the end of these curves, 
you get all of the way to March of this year, and you can see the 
significant improvement in the security situation with regard to 
civilians throughout Iraq.
  How many Iraqi troops do we have there out front now. Currently there 
are 36 battalions of national police, up from 27 a year ago; and 171 
battalions of Iraqi Army up from 115 a year ago. And of those 171 
battalions, 112 are taking the lead in the fight against insurgents.
  When I was in Baghdad in August, I was able to witness the result of 
training of the elite Iraqi force that they are sending out front to 
deal with hostage situations and terrorists and insurgents. It is a 
remarkable display to watch these gentlemen in action.
  Afterwards I talked to some of our Special Forces guys doing the 
training, and they said they are getting close. They said they will 
never match up to American Special Forces and Delta Team, but they are 
pretty good. I got to witness this. It was a sign that this training 
process that we struggled with on the ground is finally coming to 
fruition and showing real results.
  Next is the chart showing Iraqi security spending. This chart shows 
in the blue American or U.S. spending in dollars, billions of dollars, 
on Iraqi security forces. You can see the trend is dropping. We had an 
upsurge in 2006 and 2007, which was necessary, and now it is trending 
downward.
  In green, look at the Iraqi expenditures going up. That is a 
significant sign that the Iraqis were committed to this process of 
taking care of their own security. I think it is critically important 
to recognize that trend.
  Now I want to address the political, economic and social situation 
for a moment. It is important to recognize that prior to the brutal 
reign of Saddam Hussein, Iraq was basically a mosaic of tribes and 
subtribes, and governance was largely at the local level, dictated by 
tribal elders, and that is what it reverted to following the takedown 
of Saddam Hussein. We saw sectarian violence and all the jockeying for 
position. But at this point as a result of the plan that was 
implemented a little over a year ago, significant improvements in 
security have resulted, enabling Iraqis to make progress with their 
economy. Since the so-called surge began, business registrations have 
increased by 9 percent. And I know from my experience when I walked 
through the streets of Fallujah, there were a number of shops open and 
families were buying goods and food products. We are seeing 
microlending occurring to get new businesses started.
  Iraqis still have a lot of work to do with their economy, and reforms 
are clearly needed to transition from what was a command-and-control 
economy to a modern market-based economy because clearly this is a 
major departure from what they had before.
  Centralized electricity generation is now above prewar levels, still 
not sufficient to meet the needs of Iraq's growing demand, but markedly 
improved. Other key infrastructure needs are being upgraded, especially 
energy pipelines and storage facilities. Unemployment is still too 
high, and corruption still remains a challenge, but things are 
improving in those areas as well.
  Early in the war, the U.S. funded most of the large scale 
reconstruction projects in Iraq. But now, the U.S. is focusing on 
encouraging entrepreneurship. This is clearly having positive results. 
The Iraqi government is now stepping up on reconstruction projects, and 
they have outspent the U.S. in a recent budget 11:1. That is 11 Iraqi 
dollar equivalents to $1 U.S. And soon, they are expected to cover 100 
percent of these expenses. This is significant progress. Ambassador 
Crocker pointed this out in his testimony, and it is very important for 
Americans out there to understand that there is a transition being made 
where the Iraqis are going to pay this.
  The National Government has now committed $196 million to fund jobs 
programs so brave Iraqis who have stood up to extremists and murderers 
and criminals can learn skills that they need to help build a free and 
prosperous nation.
  In July, the Asian Cup Soccer Tournament was held. This was a very 
important demonstration of Iraqi nationalism as the Iraqi team, known 
as the Lions of Two Rivers, beat the three-time champions Saudi Arabia 
1-0 in their first appearance in the Asian Cup final. And there was an 
outpouring of nationalism and public sentiment as a result of that.
  The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway) pointed out a number of major 
political accomplishments: The de-Ba'athification laws that have been 
passed that are allowing mid-level and low-level bureaucrats to return 
to service; the Iraqi leaders have agreed on a budget; and revenue 
sharing is well underway to get funds down to the provincial local 
level while the permanent revenue-sharing agreement is still being 
worked out.
  Leaders have reached agreement on provincial powers law which will 
allow them to hold their provincial and local elections in October. 
This is a very important development because as I mentioned before, to 
have the local development and institutions come up while central 
government develops, as those two efforts meet, that is where we will 
see stability.
  When I was in Baghdad, I met with the deputy prime minister, a Sunni 
member of the Council of Representatives, and he told me that he felt 
that Americans were paying too much attention to elections at the 
central level. He said elections are nice, but elections are like the 
fruit on the tree. You have to plant the tree, let it establish its 
roots, and grow. He was talking about institutions that need to develop 
from the ground up to have long-term stability. I will never forget 
that metaphor because it really demonstrates what is going on and the 
power of this plan that is in place that General Petraeus and 
Ambassador Crocker have implemented.
  Ambassador Crocker said today, in commenting on the events in Basra, 
``When viewed with a broader lens, the Iraqi decision to combat these 
groups in Basra has major significance. First, a Shia majority 
government has demonstrated its commitment to take on criminals and 
extremists regardless of sectarian identity.''
  That is a significant development that would not have happened even a 
year ago.
  My friend from Texas, I yield to him.
  Mr. CONAWAY. As we draw to the close of this hour, I want to talk 
briefly about something that also came up in today's conversation. 
General Petraeus, you went through his resume awhile ago, something 
that you didn't mention was that he has been deployed overseas, away 
from his family 4\1/2\ years since this fight began in 2001, a 
significant sacrifice for his family, and in order for him to do the 
job that we have asked him to do.
  He said he is keenly aware, personally as well as for the men and 
women that he leads, that the impact that multiple deployments have 
had, the impact of the 15-month deployment instead of the 12-month 
deployment is having on these troops. He said that they have answered 
the call every single time and have not yet one time blinked in the 
face of some incredible sacrifices and commitments that we are asking 
them to take on.
  One of the problems that we face here stateside is that a remarkably 
small percentage of Americans have been directly involved in this 
fight. We have a little more than 4,000 families now

[[Page H2134]]

whose lives are forever changed as a result of that knock on the door 
saying that their loved one has been killed in action or killed in one 
of these two fights in Afghanistan or Iraq. We have 25,000 or so others 
wounded in some level of severity, some who have returned to the fight, 
and many who have life-altering circumstances that happened in the 
blink of the eye. None of them joined our services to get hurt like 
that; but they have, and they are now facing a different life, a 
different style of doing things than they ever contemplated before.
  They also talked about the men and women who continue to sign up to 
serve their country. Men and women who know if you join our Army or our 
Marine Corps today, given this persistent war that we are going to be 
in, they will fight. This isn't your granddad's army. This is an Army 
and a Marine Corps that will be asked to fight.

  I marvel personally at the strength and resolve and resoluteness that 
these families exhibit. Individually they have made incredible 
sacrifices. I get a tiny, little glimpse of the anxiety when I go to 
Afghanistan and Iraq because of the concern and worry that Suzanne, my 
wife, has while I am away. You and I when we go are never in harm's 
way. So that helps me a little bit empathize with what the families 
back home go through 24 hours a day, 7 days a week when they have a 
loved one in harm's way. While the loved one in harm's way knows 
whether or not something scary is going on, the folks back home think 
it is happening all the time and they live in dread of something bad 
happening.
  In the face of those sacrifices and commitments that we have asked 
them to make, they are standing tall and reenlisting in numbers that 
are appropriate, and new people are coming into the system in numbers 
that are sufficient to grow the Marine Corps as well as grow the Army 
which will help shift some of the burden, spread some of the burden out 
across a larger number of troops.
  But I stand in awe of how magnificent these warrior families are, as 
well as their warriors, doing a job that their Commander-in-Chief has 
asked them to do and that their Nation has asked them to do, and a 
fight that I personally believe protects America's interests and also 
keeps us safer at home than we otherwise would have been.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the gentleman. We all owe a great debt of 
gratitude to every family who has sacrificed. This is hard, and every 
American should care about this and be engaged in this process.
  I continue to say that the men and women who put on the American 
uniform are the finest that humanity has to offer because of those 
sacrifices and what they do. Oftentimes, whether it is Iraq or 
Afghanistan or some other tough spot, the only American that people in 
these countries actually get to see are our American men and women in 
uniform, and they are oftentimes our finest ambassadors. And so we owe 
them a whole lot, a great debt of gratitude for what they have done, 
and we should never forget and always stand up.
  I would urge folks, whenever they see someone in uniform, shake their 
hand and thank them for the service they have provided, and thank their 
families for the difficulties they have had to go through.
  You know, Ambassador Crocker said today, I am going to quote one more 
time here, ``Last September, I said that the cumulative trajectory of 
political, economic and diplomatic developments in Iraq was upwards, 
although the slope of that line was not steep. Developments over there, 
the last 7 months, have strengthened my sense of a positive trend. 
Immense challenges remain and progress is uneven and often 
frustratingly slow, but there is progress. Sustaining that progress 
will require continuing U.S. resolve and commitment. What has been 
achieved is substantial, and it is also reversible.''
  That really summarizes where we are today and how important it is 
that we have the resolve to see this through because the consequences 
of failure are immense. I mentioned that earlier.
  Osama bin Laden himself has made statements about the importance of 
Iraq to these terrorist activities. I have a quote here. This is Osama 
bin Laden: ``A war is underway. The epicenter of these wars is Baghdad, 
the seat of the caliphate.'' The caliphate is what they hope to 
achieve, an empire, an Islamist, radical empire. ``Success in Baghdad 
will be success for the U.S.''
  They don't want us to succeed in Baghdad. They want to drive us out.
  Let me pull up the next chart.
  I want to read this last one. This is in a letter from Ayman al-
Zawahiri, the number two of al Qaeda, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who 
headed up the al Qaeda effort in Iraq before we were able to eliminate 
him: ``Al Qaeda's stated Iraq strategy consists of three steps: Expel 
the Americans from Iraq; establish an Islamic authority; and extend the 
jihad wave to the secular countries neighboring Iraq.''

                              {time}  2045

  That's important because the countries neighboring Iraq or Turkey, 
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, and their goal is to overthrow these 
countries. That's their stated goal over and over in their 
communications, and that's why it's critical that we have success in 
Iraq because, again, we won't have peace throughout the Middle East. 
It'll have dire repercussions with regard to Lebanon.
  I didn't mention Iran, which also borders Iraq, and it's a fluid 
border. And the Iranians are definitely causing mischief, dangerous 
mischief in Iraq and around the region. That's what's at stake here, 
and that's why we must be successful in Iraq.
  With that, I want to conclude. I want to thank my colleagues for 
participating in this. I can't help but think of a Gold Star mother 
back home, Yvette Burridge, who's a friend of mine who's son went to 
high school with my son in Lafayette, Louisiana, Marine, Private First 
Class, David Paul Burridge who was killed in action on September 6, 
2004 at 19 years of age. And every time I see Yvette Burridge, she has 
pride in her eyes. She's proud of what her son did. She's proud that he 
gave his life for his country.
  And we all have stories like that that we should commemorate, those 
who have given their lives and who have been wounded in this effort. 
But we should never forget this effort. It's critically important to 
success in American foreign policy and American national security.

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