[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12211-12212]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                SMART SECURITY AND IRAQ WITHDRAWAL PLAN

  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, one would not travel to a foreign country 
without making a plan. And one would not buy a house without first 
making a plan, so why does the Bush administration insist on fighting a 
quarter trillion dollar war without a plan to end it? It is totally 
irresponsible for the White House to ask 150,000 United States troops 
to serve in a dangerous country halfway around the world without a plan 
to bring them home.
  With over 1,700 American soldiers killed in action thus far, 
representing more than 1 percent of our total force in Iraq, our 
government owes them the courtesy of planning on how we are going to 
bring them home.
  Unfortunately, the government has failed our troops in Iraq from the 
very beginning. First, we did not have a plan on going in and why we 
were going in.
  Next, the Pentagon neglected to provide life-saving body armor for 
each and every one of our troops. A study by the Pentagon released last 
year stated that nearly one-quarter of those killed during the first 
year of the war could have been saved with the proper body armor; but 
we did not plan to protect them well.
  Now with over 1,700 American soldiers dead, the government has 
continually neglected to plan for an end to this disastrous war. 
President Bush likes to talk about the importance of high troop morale, 
but he needs to talk to the Veterans Against the Iraq War. They will 
tell Members the best way to ensure high morale, and they will say the 
best way is for our soldiers to be assured they will actually be coming 
home, they will leave Iraq and there will be a plan to make it happen.
  The way to ensure that and to raise their morale is by starting to 
bring them home. Why then has President

[[Page 12212]]

Bush not stated America's long-term intentions in Iraq? His comments on 
the subject have been limited to statements like, We will stay until 
the mission has succeeded and not one day longer.
  Mr. Speaker, how does he define the mission as succeeded when he will 
not even acknowledge that there is an actual end to the mission?
  Even if the President will not create a plan to end the war in Iraq, 
there are many in Congress and around the country who will. Earlier 
this month nearly one-third of the House voted for the amendment I 
offered to the defense authorization bill to urge the President to 
create a plan for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. This sensible 
amendment would not have whisked our troops out of Iraq prematurely, it 
simply asked the President to get busy and develop a plan for the end 
of this war.
  Believe me, if he does not, we will because the people of this 
country want to bring our troops home. 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. SMART will help us address the threats we face as a Nation and 
will make war the last option.
  SMART Security will prevent acts of terrorism in countries like Iraq 
by addressing the very conditions that allow terrorism to take root: 
Poverty, despair, resource scarcity and lack of educational 
opportunity.
  SMART Security encourages the United States to work with other 
nations to address the most pressing global issues. SMART addresses 
global crises diplomatically instead of by resorting to armed conflict.
  Efforts to help the Iraqi people must follow the SMART approach, 
humanitarian assistance coordinated with our international allies to 
rebuild Iraq's war torn physical and economic infrastructure.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people clearly prefer the SMART approach to 
our current policies in Iraq. Nearly 60 percent of Americans believe 
the war in Iraq has been handled poorly and that the United States 
should immediately begin withdrawing some or all of our troops. Let us 
support our troops in Iraq and the will of 60 percent of the American 
people. We can do both by beginning to bring home our troops serving in 
Iraq. The time is now. The time is now to end the United States 
military occupation of Iraq.

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