[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 984-985]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  PRESIDENT HEADED IN WRONG DIRECTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, last night we heard from a President who 
plans to continue in the wrong direction, believing that our military 
can solve a political quagmire; but every day that we are there, our 
military presence makes the situation worse.
  Mr. Speaker, sending more troops will only fuel the insurgency. We 
don't belong there, and our brave and capable troops need to come home.
  I ask you: How can we believe a President who had already sent troops 
to Baghdad before his speech and he didn't mention it? Unbelievably, he 
is sending troops, and of course he didn't mention this, that don't 
have the most advanced armor.
  But, Mr. Speaker, while the President was giving his remarks, the 
U.S. military was attacking the Iran consulate, the consulate in the 
Kurdish region of Iraq. As yet, their consul has not heard why from the 
United States. The President didn't tell us about that attack.
  It is troubling and it is sad that the President has misrepresented 
so many facts about Iraq. It seems he can't distinguish between what he 
wants to believe and what is real. What he is calling sectarian 
violence is really civil war.
  He supports the Iraq Government against the death squads when he 
knows full well that the death squads are embedded in the Iraqi 
Government. He claims that he is following the Iraq Study Group's 
recommendation to get a win when the study group has said

[[Page 985]]

there is no way to win and that the only question is how to best leave.
  The President wants a win. To that end he is sending 20,000 more 
Americans into harm's way and spending $100 million a day to get that 
win. In 3 months, don't kid yourself, he will be asking for more to get 
a win. This is immoral.
  What the President doesn't realize is that America wins when we 
follow our ideals, which means we fight for freedom when our freedom is 
at stake and we only ask American troops to lay down their lives when 
our country is in danger, not to give the President a win.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, let me repeat, there is no military solution to 
this political problem. The United States is not going to determine the 
fate of Iraq; only the Iraqis will determine their fate.

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