[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11261]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          IRAQ AND H. RES. 861

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Davis of Kentucky). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, this morning the President of the United 
States said this about Iraq: ``My message to the enemy is don't count 
on us leaving before we succeed. Don't bet on American politics forcing 
my hand because it's not going to happen.''
  Except, Mr. Speaker, it is completely unclear what constitutes 
success under these circumstances. Saying we will stand down when they 
stand up, well, that is just a talking point that gives the American 
people no clear guide as to when they can expect this war to end.
  By leaving this question vague, by defining success entirely on his 
own secret terms, the President is allowing himself an open-ended 
commitment and a blank check in Iraq. As for his hand being forced by 
American politics, what the President calls American politics is 
actually a majority of Americans, American citizens outraged at the 
loss of life, the hundreds of billions spent, and the global 
credibility we have squandered.
  Our people see 2,499, as of yesterday, U.S. troops killed; more than 
18,000 U.S. soldiers gravely wounded, and thousands of others mentally 
and physically traumatized from their experience in the war. They see 
us losing the equivalent of one battalion every month in Iraq.
  And they want answers.
  All these sacrifices, and for what? None of it is making Americans or 
Iraqis safer. In fact, the presence of nearly 150,000 American troops 
in Iraq has become a rallying point for antiAmerican extremists in the 
Arab world.
  This war becomes a bigger catastrophe with every passing day. And yet 
the President and the Republican majority have no plan to end it. From 
the President we get the usual platitudes and this week a photo-op in 
Iraq. And in this body, what is supposed to be the people's House, we 
are embarking on a pointless debate on a nonbinding Iraq resolution 
that is long on rhetoric and short on constructive solutions.
  It is time we listened to the American people. It is time that the 
Commander in Chief stepped up by offering a solution instead of 
dismissing Americans' anxieties as ``just politics.''
  I have outlined a plan that will end the occupation in Iraq while 
helping Iraq build a free and democratic society. We must engage the 
international community, including the U.N. and NATO, to establish a 
multinational interim security force for Iraq. The U.N.'s Department of 
Peacekeeping Operations is particularly well suited for this task.
  We must shift the U.S. role from that of Iraq's military occupier to 
its reconstruction partner by working with the Iraqi people to rebuild 
their economic and physical infrastructure, and we must work with the 
U.N. to establish an International Peace Commission comprised of 
members of the global community who have experience in international 
conflict resolution to oversee Iraq's postwar reconciliation process.

                              {time}  1815

  They, our troops, have served admirably. They have sacrificed more 
than enough. We can return them to their families and we can do it 
without abandoning Iraq. This is what the American people want, Mr. 
Speaker. They want an end to this war. They are not certain exactly how 
or when, but it is our job to execute those details. They are looking 
to us for leadership and it is time the President of the United States, 
as the Commander in Chief, provided it.

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