[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20417]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  IRAQ MAKING OVERALL TERRORISM PROBLEM WORSE--TIME FOR NEW DIRECTION

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Madam Speaker, for 6 months now, President Bush has known 
that the Iraq war is making our efforts to fight global terrorism more 
difficult, yet he refuses to change the course. A top secret National 
Intelligence Estimate concluding that the Iraq war has made the overall 
terrorism problem worse should have set alarms off in the Bush 
administration. The document shows that the President's stay-the-course 
strategy in Iraq is only undermining our prospects for winning the 
global war against terror.
  The Bush administration knew that this was a possibility before it 
even went into Iraq. Another intelligence estimate that came out in 
January 2003 stated that the approaching war had the potential to 
increase support for political Islam worldwide and could increase 
support for some terrorist objectives. Yet the administration set aside 
these concerns and chose to attack instead.
  Today, our Nation is suffering the consequences. As the intelligence 
report states, radical Islam has metastasized. It's time for us to stop 
the growth of Islamic fanaticism by showing the world that we have no 
plans of occupying Iraq indefinitely.

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