[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14795-14796]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SMART SECURITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

  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 administration's war in Iraq has 
failed. It has failed to make the world a safer place. In fact, I fear 
that we are actually less safe from terrorism than we were. The world 
has actually been made less safe and more susceptible to acts of 
terror.
  Who should be held accountable for this mess? The war is not going 
too well. Nearly 900 brave American soldiers have already lost their 
lives as a result of this deadly conflict, not to mention the thousands 
of innocent Iraqi civilians that have been killed. Worse, as many as 
25,000 American troops have been evacuated from Iraq for medical 
reasons, 25,000. That is one-sixth of the number of troops currently 
stationed in Iraq.
  This speaks to a systematic failure of leadership, and, sadly, 
examples of this failure are widespread and easily recalled: the 
failure to secure Iraq's borders, the failure to prevent postwar 
looting, and the failure to provide the security necessary for 
reconstruction. In fact, the abuse of POWs at the Abu Ghraib prison is 
yet another example of failed leadership by the Bush administration. 
And it is also an example of failed leadership in planning for the war 
and postwar reconstruction in Iraq.
  But the most shameful aspect of our involvement in Iraq, our greatest 
failure of all, is our failure to provide adequately for our soldiers 
when it comes to equipment, the guidance, and the leadership they need 
to ensure their survival in Iraq and the success that they need to 
complete their stay in that country.
  We failed to immediately provide our soldiers with the essential 
tools for their survival, body armor capable of stopping bullets, armor 
for tanks that would help prevent the destruction of U.S. military 
convoys, and the necessary water equipment to keep them hydrated in the 
desert heat. This issue is one that should have been accounted for 
during the planning phases of the war, not as an afterthought when our

[[Page 14796]]

troops were stationed halfway across the world.
  I ask my colleagues again who should be held accountable for this 
mess? Should it be Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, whom President 
Bush claimed was doing a ``superb job,'' and whom Vice President 
Cheney, in an absurd statement, called the best Secretary of Defense in 
our Nation's history? If Rumsfeld is doing a superb job, if he is the 
best Defense Secretary in history, then I really want to know who is 
the worst and what is a bad job.
  Rumsfeld's consistent failure to adequately plan for the war in Iraq 
and the postwar phase, during which the lives of far more American 
soldiers have been lost than during the war itself, Donald Rumsfeld 
should resign his post with the best interests of the Nation in mind.
  But we must also take heed of the quote made famous by President 
Harry S. Truman: ``The buck stops here.'' President Bush would be well 
served to embrace this policy, a policy that served President Truman 
and our Nation well during an earlier wartime. Secretary Rumsfeld must 
not be used as a scapegoat for the President's failures.
  I have introduced legislation to create a SMART security platform for 
the 21st century, H. Con. Res. 392. SMART stands for Sensible, 
Multilateral American Response to Terrorism. Three wonderful 
organizations, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Friends Committee 
on National Legislation, and Women's Action for New Directions, helped 
in writing this legislation.
  SMART 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 a renewed commitment to 
nonproliferation. And it aggressively invests in the development of 
impoverished nations with an emphasis on women's health and women's 
education.
  The Bush doctrine of unilateralism has been tried, and it has failed. 
It is time for a new national security strategy based on our commitment 
to peace, our commitment to freedom, our compassion for the people of 
the world, and our capacity for multilateral leadership. Let us be 
smart about our future. SMART security, H. Res. 392, is tough, is 
pragmatic, is patriotic, and it will keep America safe.

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