[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16221]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  GENERAL PETRAEUS ADMITS THAT CONDITIONS WILL NOT IMPROVE IN IRAQ BY 
                               SEPTEMBER

  (Mr. SIRES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, through a congressional debate on the Iraq 
supplemental funding bill, Senate and House Republican leaders said 
that significant improvements will be needed to be seen by September in 
Iraq, otherwise a serious course correction might be needed.
  We'll see if Republican leaders will continue to back those words and 
will finally join us in moving the Iraq war in a new direction, or will 
they move the deadline to a later date like they have done in the past. 
It will be interesting to see if they stand by their statements in 
light of General David Petraeus' acknowledgment over the weekend that 
conditions in Iraq were not improved by September. The general also 
indicated that stabilizing Iraq will take as long as 10 years.
  Mr. Speaker, Democrats remain committed to forging a new direction in 
Iraq. In the coming months, Democrats will continue to hold President 
Bush accountable to fight to ensure that the Iraqi people take control 
of the country. A 10-year commitment is simply unacceptable to us. Now 
we will see if the Republicans will stand by their past statements and 
join us in the efforts in September.

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