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




                    ESCALATION IS HARDLY THE ANSWER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, a military victory in Iraq is unattainable, 
just as it was in the Vietnam War. At the close of the Vietnam War in 
1975, a telling conversation took place between a North Vietnamese 
colonel named Tu and an American colonel named Harry Summers. Colonel 
Summers said to Tu, You know, you never beat us on the battlefield. And 
Tu replied, That may be so, but it is also irrelevant.
  It is likewise irrelevant to seek military victory in Iraq. As 
conditions deteriorate in Iraq, the American people are told more blood 
must be spilled to achieve just such a military victory. 21,000 
additional troops and another $100 billion are needed for a surge, yet 
the people remain rightfully skeptical.
  Though we have been in Iraq for nearly 4 years, the meager goal today 
simply is to secure Baghdad. This hardly shows that the mission is even 
partly accomplished.
  Astonishingly, American taxpayers now will be forced to finance a 
multi-billion dollar jobs program in Iraq. Suddenly the war is about 
jobs. We export our manufacturing jobs to Asia, and now we plan to 
export our welfare jobs to Iraq, all at the expense of the poor and the 
middle class here at home.
  Plans are being made to become more ruthless in achieving stability 
in Iraq. It appears Muqtada al Sadr will be on the receiving end of our 
military efforts, despite his overwhelming support among large segments 
of the Iraqi people.
  It is interesting to note that one excuse given for our failure is 
leveled at the Iraqis themselves: they have not done enough, we are 
told, and are difficult to train. Yet no one complains that the Mahdi 
or the Kurdish militias, the Badr Brigade, the real Iraqi Government, 
not our appointed government, are not well trained. Our problems 
obviously have nothing to do with training Iraqis to fight, but instead 
with loyalties and motivations.
  We claim to be spreading democracy in Iraq. But al Sadr has far more 
democratic support with the majority Shiites than our troops enjoy. The 
problem is not a lack of democratic consensus; it is the antipathy 
among most Iraqis.
  In real estate, the three important considerations are: location, 
location, location. In Iraq, the three conditions are: occupation, 
occupation, occupation. Nothing can improve in Iraq until we understand 
that our occupation is the primary source of the chaos and killing. We 
are a foreign occupying force strongly resented by the majority of 
Iraqi citizens.
  Our inability to adapt to the tactics of fourth-generation warfare 
compounds our military failure. Unless we understand this, even 
doubling our troop strength will not solve the problems created by our 
occupation.
  The talk of a troop surge and jobs program in Iraq only distracts 
Americans from the very real possibility of an attack on Iran. Our 
growing naval presence in the region and our harsh rhetoric towards 
Iran are unsettling. Securing the Horn of Africa and sending Ethiopian 
troops into Somalia do not bode well for world peace, yet these 
developments are almost totally ignored by Congress.
  Rumors are flying about when, not if, Iran will be bombed by either 
Israel or the United States, possibly with nuclear weapons. Our CIA 
says Iran is 10 years away from producing a nuclear bomb and has no 
delivery system, but this does not impede our plans to keep everything 
on the table when dealing with Iran.

                              {time}  1545

  We should remember that Iran, like Iraq, is a third world nation 
without a significant military. Nothing in history hints that she is 
likely to invade a neighboring country, let alone do anything to 
America or Israel.
  I am concerned, however, that a contrived Gulf of Tonkin type 
incident may well occur to gain popular support for an attack on Iran. 
Even if such an attack is carried out by Israel over U.S. objections, 
we will be politically and morally culpable, since we provided the 
weapons and dollars to make it possible.
  Mr. Speaker, let's hope I am wrong about this one.

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