[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 88 (Friday, June 12, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H6667]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           ENDING MILITARY OPERATIONS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, the supplemental appropriations bill to 
continue our military operations in Iraq and in Afghanistan will soon 
return to the House for another vote. I voted against it in the first 
place, and I am going to vote against it again. I cannot support it 
because it will prolong our military involvement in Iraq and it will 
increase our military buildup in Afghanistan.
  I would gladly vote to fund the safe withdrawal of our troops and 
contractors out of Iraq. But the supplemental gives me a feeling of 
deja vu. Haven't we been there before, voting to include billions of 
dollars for the occupation of Iraq?
  Congress has voted to increase funding for Iraq many times, even 
though the American people want the occupation to end, and it seems the 
Iraqi people want us out of their country as well.
  The supplemental also calls for sending more troops to a foreign 
land, this time Afghanistan, with no exit strategy. Talk about 
repeating past mistakes. Talk about deja vu. Afghanistan feels exactly 
the same as Iraq did to me.
  President Obama has said that a campaign against extremism will not 
succeed with bullets and bombs alone. He is absolutely correct about 
that. But the money in the supplemental is overwhelmingly devoted to 
military operations. It includes very little for the economic 
development, humanitarian aid, and diplomatic efforts that we really 
need to stop extremists in Afghanistan and in Pakistan.
  The ratio is 90-10, 90 percent to the Department of Defense, 10 
percent to the smart alternatives. I believe the supplemental also 
violates the spirit of President Obama's historic speech in Cairo where 
he offered the Muslim world the hand of friendship. In that speech he 
said that we must leave Iraq to the Iraqis. But the supplemental will 
only delay the return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people.
  And then there is the little matter of the recession, Madam Speaker. 
When the American people are feeling such great pain and need so much 
help right here at home, we can't afford to squander another $100 
billion on foreign military adventures that will not make our country 
safe.

                              {time}  1300

  Instead of approving the supplemental bill, the House should be 
urging the administration to fundamentally change our mission in Iraq, 
and our mission in Afghanistan. We can do this in several ways.
  First, we should support the bill offered by Jim McGovern of 
Massachusetts, which calls upon the administration to submit an exit 
strategy for Afghanistan.
  Second, I urge my colleagues to consider the plan that I have offered 
in House Resolution 363. It's called the Smart Security Platform For 
the 21st Century. Smart Security attacks the root causes of violence by 
fighting poverty and giving people hope for a better future. It 
controls the spread of nuclear and conventional weapons of mass 
destruction, and it strengthens our national security by reducing our 
dependence on foreign oil.
  And finally, we should insist that at least 80 percent of all future 
funding for Afghanistan be devoted to the Smart Security I just 
described. Right now, the supplemental, as I told you, devotes more 
than 90 percent of its dollars to purely military efforts, efforts that 
are getting us nowhere.
  Madam Speaker, we must not repeat the mistakes of the past. We've got 
to stop writing more blank checks for open-ended occupations. This is 
what the American people want, and Congress must listen.

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