[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18475]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  REDEPLOYMENT OF OUR TROOPS FROM IRAQ

  (Mr. SESTAK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. SESTAK. Mr. Speaker, even for those convinced the surge in Iraq 
is a mistake, the manner in which we implement a decision to leave that 
country is critical to our Nation. Therefore, any Congress mandating a 
new security policy through force of law owes a careful explanation to 
the country why and how it is to be done, including dealing with what 
would occur in the aftermath.
  However much Americans may agree with us a desire to reduce U.S. 
forces and withdraw them from Iraq quickly, this Nation must face the 
alternative of what will happen in the region once that redeployment is 
done by a force of law.
  We must remember it took us approximately 6 months to withdraw a 
small number of troops just from Somalia. We have 160,000 troops in 
Iraq and over 100,000 contractors, but the time line of about a year 
that is needed for a safe redeployment also works well to protect our 
regional interests in a strategic approach to end this war. It provides 
the time needed for a strategy of regional accommodation to take effect 
with Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, a strategy that rightly relies upon 
the long-term interests in a stable aftermath. Therefore, ending this 
war is necessary but insufficient.
  How we end it and by what means is even of greater importance for our 
troops' safety and our own security.

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