[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10973]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  IT IS TIME TO BRING OUR TROOPS HOME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 31, 2006, the gentleman from New York (Mr. McNulty) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McNULTY. Mr. Speaker, when we debated the original Iraq war 
resolution, the administration told us that Iraq was stockpiling 
weapons of mass destruction, that there were ties between Saddam 
Hussein and 9/11, and that Iraq was within a year of having a nuclear 
capability.
  Fast-forward to the deliberations of the 9/11 Commission. They 
concluded that there were no weapons of mass destruction, no ties 
between Saddam Hussein and 9/11, and no nuclear capability. Mr. 
Speaker, these votes weren't 8-4 or 7-5, they were all 12-0 that the 
very basis for the war did not exist.
  When I go back home, Mr. Speaker, and my constituents ask me to 
summarize where we are in the war on terror, I tell them this: As we 
approach the fifth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in the 
history of our country, we have committed hundreds of billions of 
dollars in Iraq. More important than that, over 20,000 young Americans 
have either been killed or seriously wounded going after Saddam 
Hussein, who did not attack us, while Osama bin Laden, who did attack 
us, is still alive, free, planning another attack on our country. That, 
Mr. Speaker, is the very definition of failure in the war on terror. We 
went after the wrong guy.
  But after the invasion, did we have a responsibility to help the 
Iraqi people build a new government and a new way of life? The answer 
to that question is yes. And we have fulfilled that obligation. We have 
helped them through not one, not two, but three elections. It is now 
time for the Iraqi people to stand up and defend themselves.
  There is a general rule of military engagement that says that you do 
not signal to your enemy what you are going to do in advance. But there 
are exceptions to every rule, and there are two exceptions to this 
rule. Number one is that the insurgents in Iraq are using as a 
recruitment tool the argument that we have no intention of leaving 
their country and that we are going to steal their oil. And it is 
working! It is fueling the insurgency.
  As for our friends in Iraq, those who want this new government and 
new way of life, they seem perfectly content to let our soldiers take 
all of the enemy fire. The problem with security in Iraq is not the 
system of training, it is the fact that the Iraqis are not stepping 
forward to defend their own government.
  So today, Mr. Speaker, my basic disagreement with the President is 
this: He says that we should stay in Iraq until the Iraqis declare that 
they are ready to defend their own country; and I propose that we 
announce a timetable for withdrawal, start withdrawing our troops, and 
make our position very clear to the Iraqis: If they want this new 
government and this new way of life, they have to come forward, 
volunteer, stand up, and defend it. Mr. Speaker, it is time to bring 
our troops home.

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