[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 19784]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SMART SECURITY AND THE IRAQI CONSTITUTION

  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, tonight on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, 
I cannot help but ask how the victims would have been helped had our 
National Guard and our military and our Corps of Engineers equipment 
been made available here at home, not across the world, making trouble 
instead of fixing troubles here as we responded to Katrina.
  Tonight I will discuss what is happening in Iraq since we were last 
in session 5 weeks ago. For the last 4 years, the Bush administration 
has often justified the war in Iraq by boasting of the new-found 
freedoms Iraqi women would supposedly enjoy thanks to our military 
intervention.
  Many of us remember that staple of the President's stump speech, that 
the first voter in the Iraqi elections was a 19-year-old woman. In this 
very Chamber, an Iraqi woman sat with the First Lady during the State 
of the Union address and flashed the victory sign in celebration of the 
election that had just taken place.
  Well, that was then, Mr. Speaker. That same woman, now Iraq's 
ambassador to Egypt, is one of several Iraqis now publicly criticizing 
their nation's draft constitution and its treatment of women's rights.
  ``When we came back from exile,'' she said, ``we thought we were 
going to improve rights and the position of women. But look what has 
happened. We have lost all of the gains that we made over the last 30 
years. It is a big disappointment.''
  In fact, the very second article of the Iraqi Constitution declares 
that Islam is ``the official religion of the state,'' and that ``no law 
may be enacted that contradicts its established provisions.''
  You do not have to be a theologian, Mr. Speaker, to know that 
adherence to strict Islamic tradition is incompatible with equal rights 
and dignity for women.

                              {time}  1700

  Most depressing of all, perhaps, is that this constitution may 
actually represent a weakening of women's rights from the previous 
regime. That is right. Women may have fewer legal protections in this 
new so-called democracy than they had under the rule of that famous 
feminist and egalitarian Saddam Hussein. Is this what nearly 1,900 
American soldiers have died for, so that Iraq could slip into 
repressive theocracy? Perhaps this is the noble cause, the cause we 
have been hearing so much about: second-class citizenship for Iraqi 
women.
  The weapons of mass destruction claim was discredited long ago. The 
Iraq-al Qaeda link is nonexistent. Now it even appears that the 
spreading-freedom-and-democracy rationale for this war is also a fraud.
  Mr. Speaker, this is just one more reason that we must end this 
occupation and bring our troops home as soon as possible.
  One week from Thursday, I will be holding a hearing here on Capitol 
Hill where we will hear from experts about how we might achieve 
military disengagement while still playing a constructive role in the 
rebuilding of Iraq. Bringing the troops home should be the beginning; 
it should not be the end of a reassessment of our national security 
policy. It is time to end the reflex impulse of using military force to 
solve world conflicts and erroneously planned actions based on 
citizens' fears. This has the appearance of strength; but as Iraq has 
shown, it often undermines our national security rather than enhancing 
it.
  I have proposed a new approach. It is called SMART Security. SMART 
stands for Sensible, Multilateral American Response to Terrorism. SMART 
is based on the belief that war should be an absolute last resort, to 
be undertaken only under the most extreme circumstances.
  But that does not mean that SMART is not serious and smart about 
protecting America. It is vigilant about fighting terrorism and weapons 
of mass destruction. But it does so with strong multilateral alliances, 
improved intelligence capabilities, vigorous inspection regimes, and 
aggressive diplomacy. SMART would reshuffle our national security 
budget. No more billions thrown at outdated Cold War weapons programs. 
That money would instead be invested in energy independence and other 
efforts that truly are relevant to the modern security threats we face.
  SMART also includes an ambitious international development agenda, to 
help address the root causes of terrorism: Democracy-building that 
includes women as equals; education for women and girls; addressing 
resource scarcity--these are key ingredients to building stable 
societies in Iraq and elsewhere.
  It is my hope and belief that the grievous mistakes we've made in 
Iraq will lead us to this new, smarter national security policy. SMART 
Security protects America by relying on the very best of American 
values--our capacity for global leadership, our dedication to peace and 
freedom, and our compassion for the people of the world, all people, 
women and men alike.

                          ____________________