[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 21172-21173]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, last week was a very productive week for the 
Senate and the American people. With Democrats and Republicans working 
together, the Senate was able to pass the conference report 
implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations. Also, we passed the 
Fiscal Year 2008 Homeland Security appropriations bill and the Higher 
Education Reauthorization Act.
  This week, we will turn our attention to important domestic 
initiatives, including reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance 
Program and passing the ethics conference report to strengthen the 
integrity of our Government. That legislation is completed. The House 
will pass it tomorrow. Without any qualification or reservation, it is 
the most significant lobbying and ethics reform in the history of our 
country. I hope we can do this piece of legislation without a lot of 
turmoil. I hope that people understand how important it is to the 
American people.
  As we focus on issues that will lead to a better and brighter future 
for millions of Americans, two new reports illustrate that neither the 
present nor the future seem particularly bright for the Iraqis and Iraq 
itself, where our brave troops are fighting in this intractable civil 
war.
  One report that came down this morning is from a humanitarian 
organization. The other is from President Bush's own Inspector General 
for Iraq Reconstruction.
  According to the first report--released by Oxfam, an international 
aid organization, and the NGO Coordination Committee network in Iraq--8 
million Iraqis are in need of immediate emergency aid. So according to 
this first report, 8 million Iraqis are in need of immediate emergency 
aid. That is probably more than a third of the population. It means 
they are desperately lacking basic daily necessities such as food, 
water, and sanitation.
  Even more troubling, these conditions are worse now than before the 
war started. Before the war, 19 percent of Iraqi children were 
malnourished. Today, that is 28 percent. And 50 percent lacked adequate 
water supplies before the war; that is now 70 percent. So 70 percent of 
all Iraqis live without clean water.
  With awful and deteriorating conditions such as these, it is no 
wonder a recent poll of the Iraqi people showed 70 percent of the Iraqi 
people believe the American presence is making them less safe.
  Our troops are certainly not to blame for these failures to make the 
Iraqi people safer or healthier. In the war's 4-plus years, they have 
accomplished everything they have been asked to do. They took down the 
Iraqi dictator. They have heroically battled those who seek to 
destabilize Iraq and the region. They have provided time for Iraqi 
factions to come together and negotiate a peaceful settlement of their 
differences which, unfortunately, these factions have not taken 
advantage of.
  These failures lie with the President, who took us to war without a 
plan for

[[Page 21173]]

peace, and the Defense Department generally, which has not managed to 
administer a strategy for success, and the Iraqi Government, which 
hasn't taken responsibility for their country's own future.
  The second new report, from the Inspector General's Office for Iraq 
Reconstruction, sheds new light on how thoroughly our efforts in that 
area have failed to help Iraqis and how dearly that failure is costing 
American taxpayers.
  This inspector general's report tells us Iraq's central government 
has refused to take responsibility for more than 2,300 reconstruction 
projects America has already paid close to $20 billion to construct.
  The result is many projects are lapsing or continue to rely on 
American funds only.
  I say this in the background of the Iraqi people having arguably the 
largest oil reserve in the world. When I met those in the first Iraqi 
Government, along with Senator Frist, one of the Iraqis proudly said of 
the governing body: People say we have the second largest oil reserves 
in the world, but we have the largest oil reserves in the world.
  I don't know whether it is first or second, but they have a lot of 
oil, which translates to money, and they are not helping at all with 
these projects.
  Not a single project has been turned over to the Iraqi Government in 
more than a year. Even among those few that have been turned over, 
many, if not most, are now failing.
  As a result, our almost $6 billion investment in Iraq reconstruction 
is largely being wasted. What would happen in America? We would not 
tolerate $6 billion being wasted in taxpayer dollars, and we should not 
stand for it in Iraq--especially when it is our taxpayers' money that 
is being wasted.
  As long as we continue our open-ended commitment of troops, the Iraqi 
Government has no incentive to step up. As long as we continue 
financing projects that they let lapse, they will continue to let our 
troops and taxpayers shoulder the burden.
  The father of a soldier from Nevada wrote me recently to tell me how 
that burden is affecting his son and his son's fellow soldiers. He gave 
me permission to read this when I called and asked him after reading 
this heartfelt letter. He asked me not to mention his son's name, so I 
am not going to do that. I will not mention the man's name who wrote 
the letter. If anybody has a question, I will be happy to show them the 
letter in my office.
  He wrote:

       Our son is a 20-year-old cavalry scout in the Army. He and 
     his best friend quit college their first semester to ``make a 
     difference.'' We are a close-knit family and although we only 
     get to speak to Mike once every 3-4 weeks, the conditions, 
     morale and circumstances he deals with are like nothing we 
     read about in the press.
       I have always supported our troops but cannot support the 
     war anymore, particularly when I continue to receive 
     information from my son that is upsetting to me. He has not 
     had a day off since his deployment in early January. He has 
     had his hummer blown up and narrowly escaped death, seen his 
     close friend blown to pieces 30 yards away, had a suicide 
     bomber blow up a hummer in his unit 50 yards away, and the 
     stories go on.
       My concern is no days off, 7 days a week in combat, 4 hours 
     of sleep per night and no days off in sight for the future. I 
     have to buy a good deal of equipment for him to send over to 
     Iraq . . .
       I am a successful local businessman and a very patriotic 
     person . . . but we feel helpless and do not know who to 
     speak to . . . What do our soldiers have to look forward to 
     except fighting every day, looking death in the eye daily, no 
     days off, strategy that changes daily, 125 degree weather, 
     [and] little communication with the outside world . . .''

  The Presiding Officer, from firsthand experience, knows what this man 
is talking about. Most of us don't.
  This young man from Nevada, fighting with bravery far beyond his 20 
years, deserves better.
  As his father said, he signed up for the Armed Forces to ``make a 
difference.'' There are challenges facing America in nearly every 
corner of the globe--real dangers that will affect our security for 
generations to come. This young soldier should be helping us wage a 
real war on terrorism that goes after those who attacked us. He should 
be involved in peacekeeping missions to stop genocide and spread peace. 
Instead, he is stuck in an endless war that even President Bush's own 
military experts admit has no military solution.
  It is long past time to end this preoccupation with Iraq. It is time 
to rebuild our overburdened military, so this young soldier from 
Nevada, and 160,000 more just like him, have the rest and care they 
need to do their job effectively.
  As we work this week to make life better for millions of Americans at 
home--especially children--we continue to think of our troops and the 
Iraqi people who suffer abroad, and we will continue to work every day 
to bring about the new course our troops and all Americans deserve.

                          ____________________