[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 5821-5822]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              IRAQ UPDATE

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I am always distressed with the media and 
the way they are misrepresenting what is going on in Iraq, and 
particularly the accomplishments this last weekend. It is hard to 
believe.
  On Saturday, the Iraqi Parliament, which was elected last December, 
convened to fill the top Government leadership positions. Exemplifying 
the democratic traditions beginning to take root in Iraq, the Iraqi 
Parliament successfully negotiated these nominees, clearing the way for 
the first permanent, popularly elected Government in Iraq's history.
  The first permanent, popularly elected Government in Iraq's history--
that is mind boggling.
  In addition, I want to commend our soldiers in the theater. Without 
their brave efforts, this progress would have been impossible.
  I just returned from my 11th trip to the Iraqi AOR. I come back, and 
I remember the stories that are told by our different troops there. 
Some of the things they come up with are amazing--the anecdotal things, 
stories that are comparable to the stories we heard back during World 
War II.
  American soldiers continue to clear out terrorist strongholds, 
allowing democracy a chance to flourish. The accomplishments of 
American soldiers have permitted Iraqis the opportunity to vote and 
elect a parliament that has now produced leaders of this nation's 
national unity government. It has been a long road getting to this 
point, and we have further to go. There are some major hurdles these 
new leaders must keep in mind. These are Iraqi leaders. These are the 
elected leaders. For the first time in Iraq's history, they must build 
consensus for reigning in the militias, protecting critical 
infrastructure such as oil pipelines, preserving human rights for all 
Iraqi citizens, implementing necessary reforms to revive the civil 
economy, and, perhaps most importantly, the new leaders must inspire 
confidence in the permanent Government.
  While what these seven nominees put forward on Saturday represents a 
huge political breakthrough, challenges lie ahead for both Iraq's new 
leadership and our troops stationed there. Our best men and women 
continue to serve valiantly in some of the most trying conditions. Some 
have been gravely wounded, and some have paid the ultimate price. The 
question you hear quite often is, they say, Is it worth it? It is 
impossible for me to answer that question on an individual basis, when 
you think about the depth of suffering of a wife or a child or a 
father, the loss of a loved one. I mourn that we have lost even one 
life, but I do not regret the cause in which that life is lost.
  I will say that as America's elected leaders, we have been chosen to 
use our best judgment in these most difficult choices. Throughout 
history people have chosen to take an uncompromising stand in what they 
believe in. They have done this because they understand some things are 
so valuable that we must risk everything to preserve them.
  Can the cost of preserving freedom ever be too great? That is a 
question I wrestle with day and night. As I do, I am sure other members 
of our Government and military leaders do the same.
  I know freedom cannot be imposed, but I also know the thirst for it 
cannot be quenched. If September 11 showed us anything, it was that we 
affect and are affected by the rest of the world. Standing by and 
hoping for the best is not an option. When it comes to fighting 
terrorism around the world, we are involved, whether we like it or not, 
and the quicker we wake up to this reality, the better chance we have 
at setting things on the right course. The American public must be as 
resolute in this mission as our troops on the ground.
  President Bush has stood stalwartly behind our troops and the Iraqi 
people and measurable progress has been achieved. It would be 
appropriate to list a few of these. You don't get this from the media, 
so you are going to have to get it from the floor, from those who have 
been over there personally and witnessed things happening.
  Iraq's first Ambassador to the United States in 15 years presented 
his credentials to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a State 
Department ceremony on April 11.
  The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq calculated that nearly 
11.9 million Iraqis--approximately 75 percent--voted in the December 
2005 elections. This represents an increase of about 4 million voters 
from the January 2005 election.
  Since June 2004, when the Coalition transferred sovereignty, Iraqi 
people elected an interim government in January 2005, drafted and 
ratified a constitution in October 2005, and elected a 4-year, 
constitutionally based Government in December 2005.
  There have been strong, positive economic changes as well. Iraq's 
economy is recovering after 30 years of dictatorship and lack of 
infrastructure maintenance. In 2005, the Iraqi economy grew an 
estimated 3 percent in real terms. The International Monetary Fund 
anticipates the Iraqi economy will grow by more than 10 percent in 
2006. Certainly the Presiding Officer, one of the greatest economists 
of this body, understands the significance of the accomplishments in 
the economy of Iraq.
  Under Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraqis' standard of living 
deteriorated rapidly. Iraq's per capita income dropped from $3,800 in 
1980--higher than Spain at that time--to $715 in 2002, which is lower 
than Angola. Today economic recovery is picking up, with gross domestic 
product growing from $18.9 billion in 2002 to $33.1 billion in 2005.
  Before liberation, Iraq's cities suffered from inadequate sewage 
systems. The United States has helped Iraqis build or repair sewage 
treatment plants for 5.1 million Iraqis. U.S.-funded projects have 
improved access to clean water for 3.1 million people.
  You almost have go to there and see these people, and see what they 
are doing now that they say they couldn't have done. It is very 
difficult for an American to walk through the streets--whether it is 
Tikrit, Fallujah, Baghdad, or anywhere else--without people running up 
to you and saying my daughter can now get married, our girls can now go 
to school, now we have water we can drink, now we have a sewage system 
that we haven't had since the end of the regime of Saddam Hussein.
  I think the greatest miracle of Iraq which the ``cut and run'' caucus 
refuses to acknowledge has been the performance of the security forces. 
Coalition military commanders are focused on developing Iraqi police 
forces, and are helping Iraqis develop a disciplined force that 
protects the rights of all Iraqis. One-hundred thirty Iraqi Minister of 
Defense combat battalions are now rising up from just a handful in 
August 2004. Of the 110 bases operated

[[Page 5822]]

by Coalition forces, 34 have been closed and transferred to the Iraqis. 
That is something we have to understand. We were manning 100 percent of 
the bases of operation, and a third are now being taken care of by the 
Iraqis.
  Thirteen Iraqi brigade headquarters and fifty battalions have assumed 
battle space. They are taking care of their own battle space. Iraqi 
forces control 65 percent of Baghdad.
  I recall meeting General Madhi in Fallujah. At that time he had been 
working as a brigade commander for Saddam Hussein. He hated Americans 
until Saddam came down and General Madhi became the brigade commander 
for security forces in Fallujah. He started training with the Marines 
in Fallujah. They call it embedded training. They get in there with 
him. They worked together and they became so close that when we rotated 
the Marines out of Fallujah, they got together and they cried.
  That same general, General Madhi, was transferred to Baghdad where he 
took over the security, starting from the east to the western part of 
Baghdad, and now has control of 65 percent of the eastern part of 
Baghdad. We do not have Americans doing that. We have Iraqis doing 
that. There are more than 250,000 trained and equipped Iraqi security 
forces, up from 115,000 16 months ago.
  I stood here 3 months ago and talked about my experiences with the 
commanders in the field. They have a good answer to the question that 
keeps being asked each Member of the Senate: When will they be on their 
own and handle their own security? How long will it be? Not many 
politicians want to give the answer to something like that. I don't 
mind doing it because I think it is a good idea of what the answer is.
  I remember talking to the commanders in the field over the last 
several years and they have consistently said if we get to the point 
where we can have 11 divisions of Iraqis trained and equipped--that 
translates to 325,000--they will be ready to take over their own 
security. That does not mean all Americans will leave. We still have 
American troops and an American presence in Bosnia, Kosovo, Sinai, and 
other places, but they are not doing the security there.
  At that time when we get to the point where they have 11 divisions, 
which should be by the end of this year, or at the very latest by 
midyear of the following year, they will be able to handle their own 
security.
  Something heretofore considered to be virtually impossible is going 
to happen. One of the main problems with this war is how the media is 
focused on weapons of mass destruction. We never should have been 
talking about weapons of mass destruction. We know Saddam Hussein had 
weapons of mass destruction. We know that some 4,000 of their own 
people were killed with weapons of mass destruction. We know in the 8-
year Iran-Iraq war, over 100,000 Iranians were killed with weapons of 
mass destruction. We know they had them. There is no question. That was 
not the important thing.
  The important thing in Iraq is that the most sophisticated training 
was taking place, training people to be sophisticated terrorists in 
cities such as Samarra, Ramadi, and Salman Pak, where they had the 
major trading areas. They are not training anymore. One Iraqi defector, 
CAPT Sabah Khodada, observed foreign Arabs being trained in hijackings, 
kidnapping of airplanes, trains, public buses, planting explosives in 
cities, and suicide operations. It could very well be most likely that 
is where the training took place that caused their successful attack on 
America's soil on September 11. Very likely it was. That is what they 
were teaching at that time.
  We went into Iraq and we confiscated 2 million ``exploitable'' 
documents that we are still analyzing. Some of the documents have 
already proven the existence of the camps.
  I want to lay out the facts. We know Saddam was giving money to the 
Palestinian families of suicide bombers. We know Saddam violated 
numerous U.N. resolutions since the end of Operation Desert Storm. We 
know the air defense forces would regularly shoot at our airplanes. We 
know he tortured, abused, murdered, and massacred many thousands of his 
own people.
  I ask a very important question. Where would we be now if we had not 
gone into Iraq? The answer will be left up to history to decide. 
Probably we will never know. We know we have not been attacked on our 
territory since September 11. My own personal belief is the work we 
have done, the successes in Iraq have been responsible for that great 
victory.
  I returned from my 11th trip to the Iraqi AOR. I met with the people 
over there, including General Madhi. However, the cut-and-run caucus 
can only think of surrender. They are still out there. Recent casualty 
rates exposed the insurgents' true intentions.
  A lot of people are concerned, as I am, about the Americans, but if 
you see what has happened in the first 3 months of this year, in 
January and February and March of this year, the insurgents, the 
terrorists have been able to successfully kill 112 U.S. forces. 
However, during that same period of time they have killed 2,720 Iraqi 
civilians and security forces. What a huge change from the past.
  We need to judge the insurgencies not by what they claim but who they 
actually are attacking. This is an enemy that we cannot surrender to or 
give ground to. Their objective is fear. Their method is death. They 
will never be appeased. If we were to withdraw early, we would abandon 
Iraq to violence, but we also would cause irreparable damage to this 
country.
  It is not about Iraq, it is about defending America. We were attacked 
on our soil. The cut-and-run caucus is always there. Surrender is 
always their option. They are appeasers. An appeaser is someone who 
throws his friend to the alligators hoping they eat him last. No man 
lives when freedom fails. The best men rot in filthy jails. Those who 
yell, ``appease, appease,'' are hanged by those they tried to please.
  My wife and I have been married 46 years. We have 20 kids and 
grandchildren, and I say this: We are winning the war on terror, and 
winning it in their territory. I ask God to richly bless the 
decisionmakers and the troops.

                          ____________________