[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 929]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 OPPOSING THE PRESIDENT'S PLAN FOR IRAQ

  (Mr. BISHOP of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BISHOP of New York. Mr. Speaker, after watching last night's 
Presidential address, I must question whether or not our President 
actually listens to anyone besides the same neoconservative ideologues 
who are the architects of the fiasco in Iraq and who have insisted that 
victory in Iraq is just around the corner.
  Clearly the President is not listening to his top generals on the 
ground who have expressed doubt in the President's call for a surge in 
troops; nor is he listening to the advice of the bipartisan Iraq Study 
Group, which has called for a redeployment of troops and additional 
training for Iraqi security forces; nor is he listening to the Iraqi 
people, 78 percent of whom say the presence of American troops is 
adding to, rather than controlling, the violence.
  Most importantly, the President isn't listening to the American 
people, who sent a clear message last November that his policies in 
Iraq aren't working, and that a change of course is needed.
  Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to the President's plan to escalate this 
war. I believe the solutions to the problems in Iraq are political 
ones. And I will support my colleagues in using the constitutional 
authority vested in the Congress to control our future involvement in 
Iraq.

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