[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 18712-18713]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         STAY THE COURSE IN IRAQ IS NOT A STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS

  (Ms. WATSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, Republicans support the Bush promise to stay 
the course in Iraq with an open-ended commitment and no questions 
asked. This stay-the-course strategy has strained our military, 
compromised our readiness, cost nearly 2,700 American lives and almost 
$400

[[Page 18713]]

billion, and diverted attention and resources away from the real war on 
terror.
  Stay the course is not a strategy, and it is not working. Republicans 
refuse to face the fact that the reality on the ground is that we are 
not winning. We have no end game plan.
  Today, we are bogged down in the middle of a civil war, one where 100 
people are killed every day. From May 20 through August 11, the average 
number of attacks per week against Americans and Iraqis was 792, the 
highest number since the war began.
  Meanwhile, the war in Iraq is distracting us from the overall global 
threat of terror. Over the past 3 years while we have been fighting in 
Iraq, the number of worldwide terrorist attacks have grown dramatically 
and the Taliban is growing in strength in Afghanistan.
  The President has to stop looking and face the facts.

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