[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 21]
[House]
[Pages 29811-29812]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I am here this evening because I came to 
defy the President of the United States of America. I came to talk 
about what is happening in Iraq.
  I came to do that, understanding that this President does not want 
this kind of discussion. I recognize that the President does not want 
us to continue to remind him of this disaster in Iraq. This is a 
President who has tried to intimidate the news media and told them to 
stop writing about the bad things that were going on in Iraq, and he 
told them to write about good things that are happening in Iraq. But 
thank God that the news media of this country has continued to report 
on what is really going on in Iraq. Oh, yes, they have talked about 
some of the children returning to school, and they have talked about 
the book bags. But the American people want to know about what is 
happening with our soldiers. The American people are terribly upset 
about the loss of the lives of our soldiers.
  So I am here in defiance of the orders and the attempts to keep us 
from talking about what is going on. The President's unilateral 
invasion of Iraq and his administration's subsequent mismanagement of 
the Iraq conflict have left our Nation in a quagmire. According to the 
Pentagon's own figures, 422 American servicemen and -women have been 
killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war and 2,041 have been 
wounded. No less than 284 Americans have been killed since the 
President announced the end of the major combat operations on May 1, 
and the casualties continue to climb.
  I believe that this administration is in denial. Yes, the President 
posted that sign ``Mission Accomplished.'' However, the war really did 
begin after the sign was posted, and our soldiers have been picked off 
one by one.
  Mr. Speaker, attacks on U.S. helicopters have killed nearly 40 
soldiers this month alone, and the attacks continue every day. This 
past Monday, two more soldiers were killed in two separate attacks near 
the town of Balad, 45 miles northwest of Baghdad.

                              {time}  2145

  One soldier died and two more were wounded when Iraqi insurgents 
engaged their patrol with small arms fire. The other soldier was killed 
when a convoy was struck by a roadside bomb. Every day, more American 
soldiers are killed in Iraq with no exit strategy and no end in sight.

[[Page 29812]]

  Mr. Speaker, I remember when our soldiers rolled into Baghdad. I 
remember the way the President bragged about Operation Shock and Awe. I 
remember how they said to the American people, we have all of the 
equipment and supplies and the military might that we need. We are 
going to shock and awe. And this kind of sloganeering that I thought 
was unbecoming of this administration was the order of the day.
  Now, this administration is doing it again. The administration's most 
recent response to the mounting American casualties has been a new 
bombing campaign. This campaign is known as Operation Iron Hammer in 
Baghdad and Operation Ivy Cyclone north of Baghdad. It involves heavy 
aerial attacks on so-called suspected terrorists' meeting places and 
infrastructure. For the past 6 days, U.S. forces have pounded targets 
with 500-pound bombs, cannon fire, and artillery.
  I believe it is another public relations campaign. Mr. Speaker, this 
administration is famous for spinning and sloganeering and basically 
posturing, and this is another kind of spinning that is going on. They 
think when they come up with this kind of sloganeering that somehow 
they are more believable.
  So we have this new Operation Iron Hammer in Baghdad, and what is it 
doing? We are told that they are hitting suspected terrorists. Who are 
they killing? What terrorists are they stopping when, in fact, the 
terrorists, as they have been identified who are killing our soldiers, 
continue day after day to pick our soldiers off. There is no evidence 
to suggest that this bombing campaign will accomplish anything. In 
fact, it may make the situation worse.
  A top secret CIA assessment from Iraq, which was widely reported last 
week, warned that bombing campaigns like this one could only incite 
more Iraqis to fight against Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, I will be coming often to tell the truth about what is 
going on in Iraq. I will not be intimidated.

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