[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13802]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
                IRAQ'S CYCLE OF RETALIATION AND REVENGE

  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, some of the most frightening violence in 
months has erupted in Iraq over the past week. In fact, today was 
reported to be the worst day of death and violence since the United 
States started the war 3\1/2\ years ago.
  On Saturday, Sunni insurgents bombed and destroyed a Shiite mosque. 
In response, Shiite gunmen dragged random motorists out of their cars 
in a Sunni Baghdad neighborhood, killing them, killing them with 
impunity.
  The situation has become absolutely terrifying. And, sadly, the cycle 
of retaliation and revenge is getting worse, not better. Those who 
think Iraq has not already devolved into a civil war are just kidding 
themselves. They must think a civil war looks something like two 
pitched armies battling it out across from each other with muskets and 
cannons in a giant field.
  Unfortunately, today's version of a civil war is a lot more murky. It 
involves fighting on the streets, not a battlefield. It involves 
innocent civilians, men, women, it involves children, who are losing 
their lives, who are living in a great deal of pain and a great deal of 
uncertainty.
  Mr. Speaker, what we can be sure about is that our presence in Iraq 
is not helping the situation. In fact, the presence of nearly 150,000 
American troops in Iraq has become a rallying point for dissatisfied 
people in the Arab world. This latest surge of violence has coincided 
with an announcement by U.S. military officials that four more soldiers 
have been arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a young 
Iraqi woman and three members of her family.
  To be sure, the vast majority of all American soldiers currently 
stationed in Iraq are bravely and honorably serving their country, but 
the destructive actions of a few very bad apples have added fuel to the 
fire, and the Iraqi people want us to leave their country.
  The sad truth is that our troops have been failed by their civilian 
leaders in Washington. They have been misguided. They have gone on a 
mission that has been fraught with failure from the very, very 
beginning. The White House is more interested, it appears, in trying to 
make Iraq seem like a success than actually fixing the problem that 
plagues the country.
  If you go to the White House Web site and if you search for ``Iraq,'' 
you will find a section called ``Renewal in Iraq.'' This page contains 
such platitudes as, and I quote the Web site, ``Together, Iraqis and 
Americans are making progress''; and another one, ``The United States 
will settle for nothing less than complete victory in Iraq.''
  The problem, Mr. Speaker, is that words like ``will settle for 
nothing less than complete victory'' or ``we'll stay in Iraq until the 
job is done'' are no more than tired old slogans. Most Americans and 
nearly all Iraqis understand that an open-ended U.S. military presence 
in Iraq doesn't serve anyone's interests. The very perception that we 
plan to stay in Iraq permanently is one of the greatest catalysts 
spurring the Iraqi insurgency.
  It is clear that the time is long overdue to bring our troops home. 
It is time to end the bloodshed and to send a clear message that the 
United States has no plans to stay in Iraq indefinitely, that we won't 
occupy permanent bases in Iraq and we won't control Iraqi oil, and that 
our troops will be coming home. They will be leaving Iraq. They will be 
coming home to their families.
  The American people know this and they want their elected leaders in 
Congress and the White House to catch up with them.

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