[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13478]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    BEING HONEST ABOUT PLANS IN IRAQ

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, many of my friends ask me as we struggle 
to fund this war, why are the Iraqi Parliamentarians going on a 2-month 
vacation? The answer is very simple: Self-preservation. The AP reported 
that ``a few shells'' fell in the Green Zone last weekend. Well, my 
sources in Amman and in Baghdad told me that 47 mortar rounds landed in 
the Green Zone on Sunday, and on Monday they hit the parliament 
building, destroying the office of Dr. Mashhadani 5 minutes after he 
left it.
  The AP also reports that the Defense Minister, Mr. Obeidi, has told 
reporters that Iraq's military was drawing up plans in case U.S. forces 
left the country quickly. ``The army plans on the basis of a worst case 
scenario so as not to allow any security vacuum. There are meetings 
with political leaders on how we can deal with the sudden pullout.''
  It sounds to me like we are looking at off-the-hotel-roof in Vietnam, 
or maybe it was the pullout from Beirut.
  I wish, Mr. Speaker, we could make the President be honest with us 
about what he is actually planning. The world can't figure it out.

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