[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19133]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO MOVE AWAY FROM BUSH ON IRAQ; ACTION SPEAKS 
                           LOUDER THAN WORDS

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, Democratic efforts to change direction in 
Iraq forced the President to issue a preliminary report showing that 
the Iraqis have not met the benchmarks that they were supposed to. The 
failure of the Iraqi Government to keep its promises, coupled with 
continued violence on the ground, the death of our soldiers and Iraqi 
civilians has led Senate Republicans, at least some of them, to join us 
in calling for a new direction in Iraq.
  Some Senate Republicans see the writing on the wall, writing on the 
wall in both of our House cloakrooms, but is yet to be seen on the 
Republican side but for four of our colleagues, for the optometrist 
hasn't made his way over there. The situation is getting worse for our 
troops. We will see this week whether Senate Republicans mean what they 
say and they vote for the Levin-Reed amendment when it comes to the 
Senate floor tomorrow and bring our troops home. The amendment is close 
to identical with what the House passed with Democratic votes and four 
Republicans last week.
  The Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki has said they can supply their own 
defense and they don't need us any longer. When a host says go home, it 
is only correct to go home. He says they don't need us. We aren't 
needed. We need to bring our troops home and not have them needlessly 
die.

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