[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17194]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           TWO WARS--NOT ONE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, Iraq. A good number of people are confused 
when the name of that country is mentioned.
  Let's be clear. Our country is engaged in two wars. The first is the 
war against terrorism, which has its genesis in Afghanistan with 
tentacles reaching throughout the world.
  The terrorist group known as al Qaeda, headed by a man named Osama 
bin Laden, originated in Afghanistan and was protected by the former 
Afghan Taliban government. After the September 11, 2001, attacks on our 
country, which were sponsored by bin Laden's al Qaeda, our military 
forces struck the Taliban government and the al Qaeda strongholds in 
Afghanistan. Our military forces, along with allied and NATO forces, 
remain fighting the remnants of al Qaeda and the Taliban with the 
assistance of the Afghan National Army.

                              {time}  2015

  The attack by our military in the ongoing conflict was a war of 
necessity. The second war, our attack on Saddam Hussein's Iraq 
originated because of the alleged threat of weapons of mass destruction 
against America and our interests. This is a war of choice. After 
soundly defeating the military in open battle, our occupation of that 
troubled country came about without proper planning or resources.
  Massive looting was allowed. The Iraqi Army was disbanded, without 
giving former soldiers paychecks and shovels, which caused many to turn 
against the American occupation. There were insufficient troop numbers 
to provide a successful military occupation and reconstruction.
  Former Sunni Muslim Baathist regime elements formed the basis of a 
growing insurgency against the occupation forces. They were joined by 
foreign fighters, mainly al Qaeda, and numerous criminals who were 
recently released from prison by Saddam Hussein shortly before the 
conflict started.
  In more recent days, a new source of violence has erupted in Iraq, 
sectarian religious violence with Shia and Sunni elements killing each 
other. According to a recent Pentagon report, sectarian bloodshed has 
pushed violence in Iraq to its highest level in more than 2 years. 
Preventing full-scale civil war is now the most urgent mission of the 
U.S. troops in that country.
  Thus, this is the status of the Iraq war, which is a separate and 
distinct war from that against the terrorists. The enemy in each 
conflict has different goals. The al Qaeda terrorist group wishes to 
establish a Muslim caliphate throughout the entire Middle East. The 
Iraqi insurgents' goal is to cause the existing Iraqi government to 
fail and to establish Sunni dominance in Iraq.
  The Sunni Arab insurgency remains strong and viable. The sectarian 
violence overlays this initial struggle with the sectarian leaders such 
as Muqtada al-Sadr in the wings of the Shiite groups. On September 4, 
2002, and again on March 18, 2003, before we invaded Iraq, I wrote the 
President warning of the instability in the months following the 
initial coalition victory.
  Sadly, my warnings were of Cassandra-esque value. They were not 
heeded by the administration. So there we are, two conflicts, two wars, 
and the two should not be confused.
  There are those who attempt to fuzz the two conflicts together as the 
war on terror, but the wars are truly separate and distinct. With the 
help of NATO troops, we made significant gains in Afghanistan, but 
these are in danger of being overturned if we relax our focus.
  The picture is not so rosy in Iraq, which calls for a different 
policy and a different approach to bring about stability and 
representative government. The recent Pentagon report is not 
encouraging.

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