[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14710]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SMART SECURITY AND IRAQ TRANSFER OF POWER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, at the end of last month, the United States 
Government handed control of Iraq ``back to its people.'' And everyone 
I know who is being at all intellectually honest believes that the 
choice of a June 30 deadline was driven more by the political calendar 
than anything else.
  The Bush administration wants to have it both ways. They want to go 
before the voters with ``clean hands'' in the fall to say that the job 
has been completed just as they tried to declare ``mission 
accomplished'' a year ago, but at the same time remaining in charge of 
this occupation, while even after the handover, U.S. troops and other 
officials will enjoy full immunity if they should destroy property or 
kill Iraqi citizens.
  Coming on the heels of the Abu Ghraib revelations, this arrogance and 
lack of accountability is absolutely staggering. The war in Iraq has 
already cost lives of hundreds of American soldiers, 25,000 being 
injured, the lives of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, and 
billions of dollars that should have been invested right here at home.
  This war has diverted resources from the struggle against al Qaeda, 
the group actually responsible for the atrocities of 9/11. Now al Qaeda 
has regrouped and poses as great a strength and threat as ever.
  This case for war was built on dubious intelligence and outright 
deceptions. The 9/11 Commission recently announced that it had access 
to all the same information as Vice President Cheney; yet there is ``no 
credible evidence'' that Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq 
collaborated with al Qaeda.
  Our presence in Iraq has been met not with gratitude but resentment. 
Instead of throwing flowers at American troops, Iraqis now throw 
torches at Humvees.
  Mr. Speaker, our current national security approach is an unmitigated 
disaster, but do not take my word for it. Listen to the statement 
issued in mid-June by a group of 27 former senior diplomats and 
military officials. They said the Bush administration ``has failed in 
the primary responsibilities of preserving national security and 
providing world leadership.'' They went on to say: ``Instead of 
building upon America's great economic and moral strength to address 
the causes of terrorism and to stifle its resources, the 
administration, motivated more by ideology than by reasoned analysis, 
led the United States into an ill-planned and costly war from which 
exit is uncertain.''
  It is clearly time for a new national security policy, Mr. Speaker. 
And I have introduced H. Con. Resolution 392 to create a SMART security 
platform for the 21st Century. SMART stands for Sensible Multilateral 
American Response to Terrorism. SMART security treats war as an 
absolute last resort. It fights terrorism with stronger intelligence 
and multilateral partnerships. It controls the spread of weapons of 
mass destruction with aggressive diplomacy, strong regional security 
arrangements, and vigorous inspection regimes. SMART security invests 
in the development of impoverished nations to prevent terrorism from 
taking root in the first place. SMART security is about preventing war 
as opposed to preemptive war. It emphasizes brains over brawn. It is 
tough, but diplomatic; aggressive, but peaceful; pragmatic, but 
idealistic.
  President Bush loves to think that those who support his efforts in 
Iraq are patriotic and those who think there is a better way are 
unpatriotic, or worse, un-American. But I can think of nothing more 
patriotic than pursuing a national security policy that protects 
America by relying on the noblest of American values, our capacity for 
global leadership, our compassion for the people of the world, our 
commitment to peace and freedom.

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