[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11619-11620]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to claim the time of the gentleman 
from Oregon.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
Maryland is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I call upon the President of the United 
States to present a plan to Congress to start bringing our troops home 
from Iraq.
  It has been almost 4 years since the President came to Congress and 
sought the use of force in Iraq. At that time, Mr. Speaker, I voted 
against giving the President the use of force. It was not a popular 
vote in my congressional district, but it was the right vote. I was 
proud of my vote 4 years ago, and I am proud of my vote today.

                              {time}  1145

  I have remained an outspoken critic of the President's policies in 
Iraq. There was no connection between Iraq and the attack on our 
country on September 11. There was no evidence of any weapons of mass 
destruction or nuclear weapons, and other weapons information was 
distorted. There was no direct threat against the United States.

[[Page 11620]]

  We have paid a heavy price for the war in Iraq. Over 2,400 soldiers 
have died, 18,000 have been injured, and we have spent $300 billion-
plus of taxpayer money.
  Our international standing has suffered. In December 2004, I visited 
the troops in Iraq. I wanted to see firsthand what was happening in 
Baghdad. My experiences I will not soon forget. I thanked our soldiers 
for their service to our country. They deserve to come home to their 
families and a grateful Nation.
  A lot has changed in Iraq. It has been 3 years since the Saddam 
Hussein regime fell. It has been 2 years since an interim government 
was formed and the sovereignty of Iraq was transferred to that interim 
government. It has been 15 months since the first elections in Iraq. 
Iraq has a new constitution. They have elected a permanent government.
  In December of 2005 we went on record in the defense authorization 
bill that 2006 should be a year of transition in which the Iraqi 
security forces take control of their own security. That has not 
happened.
  It is time to change the policies in Iraq, and yet the President 
still says let's stay the course. We need a new direction in Iraq. That 
direction should include the drawdown of American troops. We have 
130,000 soldiers serving in Iraq. 20 percent are from our National 
Guard and Reservists. Military experts have recommended a drawdown of 
10,000 troops a month.
  Although we should not announce a specific time schedule, it is 
reasonable to expect that one-half of our combat troops could be home 
by the end of 2006, and all of our combat troops home by the end of 
2007. It should start with our National Guard. They were never intended 
to be the primary coverage for a military operation. We need them home 
to meet local needs.
  This would allow us to achieve certain necessary objectives, bringing 
our troops home to their families and not in the middle of a civil war. 
It is an important message to the Iraqi government that they cannot 
assume that American soldiers will be there indefinitely to take care 
of their own security needs. It would remove propaganda for al Qaeda in 
which they look at the United States as being an occupation force, and 
it allows us to stage outside of Iraq to work with our allies and 
international community to fight international terrorism. We have lost 
our focus in the war against terror. It would help us preserve an all-
volunteer military.
  We also need to organize an international conference, including the 
Iraqi government and our friends internationally. The United States is 
the only superpower. We need to mend our diplomatic fences. We need to 
engage the international community. It is in their interest to help us 
in Iraq, to create a ceasefire for the Iraqi government and its 
militia, train the security forces, and coordinate humanitarian aid and 
infrastructure assistance.
  We need to honor our commitment to our military veteran families and 
strengthen troop recruitment. The voluntary military is in danger 
because of excessive deployments. Morale is down because of long tours 
of duty and our failure to live up to our commitments on veterans' 
benefits.
  The recruitment goal in 2005 was missed by 6,000, and our National 
Guard and Reservists have only hit 80 percent of their goal. The answer 
is the proper deployment of our military and honoring our veterans, 
commitments on benefits, including health benefits, so that the 18,000 
who are returning injured from Iraq and the 50,000 who we anticipate 
will have battle fatigue related issues are dealt with as we have 
promised.
  Mr. Speaker, I call upon the President to change course in Iraq in 
order to further U.S. interests.

                          ____________________