[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12811]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         OVERSIGHT GAP IN IRAQ

  (Mr. BROWN of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, former State Department intelligence 
officials testified yesterday that they warned the administration 3 
years ago that the occupation of Iraq would provoke insurgency ethnic 
strife and the targeting of U.S. forces. But their words then, 3 years 
ago, went unheeded.
  The Post reported today that the hearing ``marked the first time 
intelligence assessments on postwar Iraq had been specifically 
discussed in a congressional session.'' No Republicans participated.
  Three years after the war in Iraq began, Republicans are still 
refusing to investigate what went wrong. Ohio families are paying the 
price.
  Many of us have repeatedly asked the President to present a plan for 
success in Iraq, a winning exit strategy to complete the mission and 
start to redeploy and bring our troops home. Republicans responded with 
theatrics and sound bites. More of the same is not a plan. More of the 
same doesn't bring us any closer to winning the global war on terror.
  The troops and the American people deserve better. They deserve a 
Congress that doesn't look the other way when mistakes are made. They 
deserve a realistic and forward-thinking plan that brings our troops 
home.

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