[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12033]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             SMART SECURITY

  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, on April 12 at Fort Hood, Texas, President 
Bush told an audience of thousands of servicemembers that for the first 
time Iraqi soldiers outnumbered U.S. soldiers in Iraq. That was April 
12. Specifically, he put the number of trained and equipped Iraqi 
forces at 150,000.
  This rosy assessment of the situation in Iraq is shocking not only 
for its arrogance but also for its ignorance. The President was either 
totally oblivious to Iraq's true security failures, or he was 
intentionally misleading the American people into thinking peace has 
taken hold. His statement was uninformed at best, deceitful at worst. 
Either way, the President's assessment misleads the American people in 
knowing the true situation in Iraq.
  Take, for example, his claim that 150,000 Iraqi soldiers have been 
trained. Iraq's military leaders reveal the number is closer to 75,000, 
half of the President's statement; and we are not sure what the quality 
of training is and how those trained individuals are measured.
  Also, the actual number of trained security personnel committed to a 
secure and democratic Iraq is probably less because, as the chief of 
police in Basra, General Hassan al-Sade stated, at least half of his 
14,000-member militia is openly opposed to a secure Iraq, and another 
quarter are politically neutral but do not follow his military orders. 
General al-Sade recently told the Guardian newspaper, ``I trust 25 
percent of my force, no more.''
  After giving his Fort Hood speech last April, the President never 
again mentioned that 150,000 Iraqi security personnel have been 
trained. Perhaps that is because he realized his assessment was 
entirely inaccurate; but the President never admitted to the American 
people that he was wrong in his assessment, and he has still not told 
the American people when he will determine Iraq to be secure or how and 
when he plans to bring the troops home.
  Mr. Speaker, the best way to secure Iraq is to remove U.S. troops 
from the country. Nothing enrages and unites the Iraq insurgency more 
than the presence of nearly 150,000 American soldiers on Iraqi soil. 
One option is to bring one American soldier home for every Iraqi 
soldier that has been trained. If 75,000 Iraqi soldiers have been 
trained, half of the President's April 12 assessment, why can we not 
remove the same number of our own soldiers and bring them home? This is 
just one idea for exiting Iraq. I encourage the President to come up 
with his own plan. I am not against supporting the President's plan if 
it is a good one, but right now he does not even have a plan.
  Fortunately, there is a plan that would secure America for the 
future, SMART security. SMART is Sensible, Multilateral, American 
Response to Terrorism for the 21st century.

                              {time}  1415

  SMART will help us address the threats we face as a Nation. SMART 
security will prevent acts of terrorism in countries like Iraq by 
addressing the very conditions which allow terrorism to take root: 
poverty, despair, resource scarcity and lack of educational 
opportunities. SMART security encourages the United States to work with 
other nations to address pressing global issues. SMART addresses global 
crises diplomatically rather than resorting to armed conflict. Efforts 
to help give Iraq back to the Iraqis must follow the SMART approach: 
humanitarian assistance, coordinated with our international allies, to 
rebuild Iraq's war-torn physical and economic infrastructure.
  Mr. Speaker, it has been more than 2 years since the United States 
started this war in Iraq; and now the American people, especially the 
soldiers who are bravely serving our country halfway around the world, 
need and deserve a plan for ending this war. It is time for the 
President to create a plan to end the war in Iraq and to bring our 
troops home.

                          ____________________