[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13803-13804]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1945
                          THE VIOLENCE IN IRAQ

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of 
turn.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
Washington is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, this election is going to be a referendum 
on the President's plan to deal with Iraq.
  The American people need to know what is going on. And, of course, 
our press gives them one view. But I think it is important to see what 
the rest of the world is saying about what is going on in Iraq today. 
For that reason I am going to read some portions of an editorial from 
the Daily Star of Lebanon. It is the most influential and most balanced 
paper in the Middle East, and the title is ``Only Iraqis Can Keep 
Sectarian Violence From Ruining Their Country.''
  ``In the latest outburst of sectarian violence in Iraq, roving bands 
of Shiite gunmen killed at least 41 Sunnis in

[[Page 13804]]

Baghdad on Sunday as a car bomb targeted a Shiite mosque, killing 17.''
  ``Bloody scenes such as these are becoming all too common in Iraq, 
where a low-intensity civil war threatens to erupt into full-scale 
sectarian conflict. The violence already poses a threat to the fragile 
Iraqi government. Sunni MPs, who have been boycotting Parliament 
sessions over the abduction of one of their colleagues, MP Tayseer 
Najah al-Mashhadani, are now considering extending their boycott to 
withdraw from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Cabinet. If they do so, 
the national unity government that took six long and tedious months of 
horse trading to create could easily topple.
  ``Recent developments in the country only serve to illustrate the 
bankruptcy of the sectarian power-sharing agreement created under U.S. 
occupation. This is not to say that there were no sectarian tensions in 
Iraq prior to the U.S . . . but the new poisonous political arrangement 
created under the U.S. occupation has only exacerbated existing 
tensions.
  ``The most deadly schism that has emerged in the country is the 
Sunni-Shiite rift. A small group of Sunnis has been waging a deadly 
insurgency and attacking Shiite citizens and mosques. In response, 
Shiite commando units, some of which are affiliated with the 
government, have been conducting reprisal attacks against mosques and 
civilians in Sunni communities. The sectarian `cleansing' of various 
cities around the country has driven tens of thousands of Iraqis to 
flee their homes.
  ``There can be no victors in a full-scale sectarian conflict in Iraq. 
One only has to recall the tragedy that was Lebanon's 15-year civil war 
to know that all parties will be the losers in a sectarian war. Even 
the minute personal gains achieved by trigger-happy gunmen will be 
erased whenever men with bigger guns come along to exact their revenge.
  ``Iraqis are currently heading in the same direction as the Lebanese 
were in 1975. And sadly, they have no one to turn to but themselves if 
they want to avoid civil war. They cannot turn to the U.S. military and 
ask it to use its muscle, because that will only stoke more 
intercommunal hostilities. Iraq's neighbors, who during a meeting over 
the weekend failed to offer the Iraqi people any tangible assistance, 
proved that they are unwilling to do much more than issue rhetorical 
statements. The responsibility of avoiding full-scale civil war rests 
squarely on the laps of Iraqis. During this volatile period, it is 
crucial that all Iraqi leaders act responsibly and refrain from 
inflammatory acts and statements that can only make matters worse.''
  Now, it is clear from this editorial and from all the papers if you 
read them in the Middle East that the longer we stay there, the longer 
the violence goes on. If we want peace, if we want a stable government 
for the Iraqi people, if we want a society to develop in a civil way, 
we must begin the process of getting out. We cannot say we are going to 
stay there until it is quiet because it is clear from editorials like 
this one in The Daily Star and many other newspapers across the Middle 
East that it will not happen as long as we stay.
  We are considered the occupiers. The government is considered one 
that we created. Our fear, down at 1600 Pennsylvania, is that if we go, 
they will create a government that we do not like. But democracy 
requires that you trust the people to choose their own government.
  We will talk more about this in an hour from now.

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