[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14620]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                         IRAQ AND U.S. SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sestak) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SESTAK. Mr. Speaker, I commanded an aircraft carrier battle group 
of 30 ships off Afghanistan during the war from the Indian Ocean. We 
were told one day to take those 30 ships into the Persian Gulf, which 
some thought would be the running start to the Iraqi war.
  Of those 30 ships, 20 of them were not United States' ships. They 
were Japanese. They were Australian. They were Italian. They were 
Greek. There were many other ships from throughout this world. But when 
we entered through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf, none of 
those ships came with us except the British and the Australians. At 
that time, I knew that this war in Iraq would be a tragic misadventure.
  Two months after the war in Afghanistan commenced, I was actually on 
the ground in Afghanistan. I saw for a very short period of time what 
needed to be done in order to bring about a successful resolution of 
that conflict.
  After the war in Iraq was over and I left my carrier battle group, I 
was on the ground again for a short period again in Afghanistan and saw 
what had not been done, because we had diverted not just our attention 
but our resources, our PSYOPS forces, our special forces, our civil 
affairs units to Iraq. To me, Afghanistan is a poster child, as it is 
pre-terrorist and the Taliban have shifted into the southern provinces 
again and what Iraq has done to U.S. security worldwide.
  So, therefore, I believe that the only strategy that we can pursue 
for success in Iraq is to have a date that is certain by which we will 
redeploy out of Iraq. We have to do this for two primary reasons.
  First, a date certain changes the structure of incentives within the 
countries that are in that region to change the behavior. Iraqis need 
to step up to the plate, understanding we will not be there providing 
political and military cover to pursue the personal fiefdoms within the 
ministries of Baghdad's governments.
  Also, Iran and Syria are involved destructively in this war. Once 
they know that we will not be there, they have an incentive to work for 
stability. They do not want the more than 4 million refugees that are 
dislocated within Iraq, and some have already filled our borders, to 
continue to overflow it, if we are not there to contain that 
instability.
  Second, they do not want a proxy war between these two allied 
nations, Syria, Sunni and Iranian Shi'a. If we are not there, they do 
not want to fuel a proxy war between themselves as they support 
different religious factions.
  But there is a second reason why we must have a date certain with 
sufficient time to redeploy our troops.
  It took us 6 months to redeploy out of Somalia, a much smaller force. 
In Iraq, we have 140,000 troops and over 100,000 civilians. No one 
should ever try to redeploy those troops, and what is the hardest 
military operation to do is withdrawal, when they are most vulnerable 
in a short period of time.
  We must have a date certain as a strategy, as the only leverage 
remaining to change the behavior of nations within that region to work 
for stability and to have our troops, those who wear the cloth of this 
Nation, that we sent there to have a redeployment that can be safe.
  I ask this Congress to think the next time, as we must work for an 
end to this open-ended commitment, that we do so with sufficient time, 
as my bill said, by the end of December 31, but on an authorization 
bill, not an appropriations bill, where we again would be forced to 
vote, as I had to, for the safety of our troops versus the need to 
redeploy from Iraq, under a strategy which can leave behind an unfailed 
state.
  To bring about greater security, an authorization bill is needed. 
Being in the military is a dangerous business. It has the dignity of 
danger. It should never be unsafe because we are forced in an 
appropriations bill, with a short period of time, to not provide the 
resources for our forces.
  I therefore say that it needs to be an authorization bill with a date 
certain to bring about a greater security for the United States.

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