[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23969]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1600
                            ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, the new military strategy in Iraq is 
simply not working. President Bush misled Congress and the American 
people when he led our troops into Iraq. To this day, he continues 
trying to mislead us, most recently with reports that violence is down 
in Iraq since the surge of the United States troops. This is absolutely 
untrue, and I am utterly shocked at the audacity of this administration 
and many of my Republican colleagues to so boldly manipulate the facts 
to serve their own political agenda.
  Overall, violence in Iraq has risen since the troop surge. That's 
right, violence has risen.
  Newly released statistics for Iraqi civilian deaths in August show a 
20 percent increase since July. The President and the Pentagon are 
picking and choosing which numbers will be included in death tolls to 
give the appearance that the violence is down.
  According to information from the Iraq Study Group and the Center for 
Strategic and International Studies, they do not count deaths of people 
who have been shot in the head from the front. They do not count deaths 
of Shiite or Shiite violence which is on the rise in the oil-rich 
south, nor do they count the intra-Sunni violence in the Sunni 
Triangle.
  Mr. Speaker, it is reported they are not even counting deaths from 
car bombs. We read about deadly car bombs in Iraq nearly every day, and 
these deaths are not being counted by this administration.
  I'm also greatly concerned about the Defense Department adjusting its 
figures for sectarian killings in the 5-month period before the surge 
began. There's a major discrepancy between the data on the March 2007 
report and the June 2007 report for this period. The original number of 
approximately 5,500 deaths was increased to 7,400, offering the 
appearance of significantly decreased violence since the troop surge 
began.
  I must ask, why is this administration working so hard to create the 
appearance of success in Iraq? Is it to justify the more than $368 
billion we have spent since the inception of Operation Iraqi Freedom? 
Is it to rationalize the staggering $10 billion a month we continue to 
spend in Iraq while we put the lives of our brave soldiers at risk?
  During every month of 2007 there have been more U.S. military 
fatalities than in the same month of 2006. How can anyone possibly say 
that this new surge is working?
  Mr. Speaker, I was hopeful that the administration had perhaps begun 
listening to the cries of the American people to bring our troops home 
when reports over the last couple of weeks indicated that General 
Petraeus was considering a draw down of our current troop levels.
  Unfortunately, we learned today that our hopes of redeployment of our 
military servicemembers will continue to fall on deaf ears, as General 
Petraeus announced earlier today that he has no intention of scaling 
back our troop levels in Iraq. In failing to do so, this Nation's 
attention will remain distracted from adequately protecting the home 
front, building an adequate health care system, reforming Social 
Security and decreasing the deficit.
  Mr. Speaker, President Bush loves to talk about the success of the al 
Anbar province where he made a surprise visit for a photo opportunity 
on Labor Day. But there are many conflicting opinions about why 
violence has decreased, whether or not this is the result of the troop 
surge, and whether the success in this region is indicative of success 
in other more complex regions of the country.
  Many believe this success may be the result of multilayered issues. 
It may be an indication that ethnic cleansing has been completed in 
many neighborhoods and that there are just not as many people left to 
kill. It may be the result of militants moving to other regions of the 
country where violence has increased. It may be the result of Sunnis 
befriending the United States simply as a means to accomplish a larger 
goal of stepping back into power. It may be the result of Sunnis 
finally rejecting the routine abuse by al Qaeda. It may be a 
combination of all of these.
  Regardless, we cannot ensure that any success in al Anbar is a result 
of the troop surge, nor can we ensure that this success can be 
transferred to other parts of the country. In fact, the overriding 
component of ensuring success in Iraq is political reconciliation, as 
pointed out by the GAO and the Jones Commission before the House Armed 
Services Committee this week.
  Military and security progress cannot be made without political 
reconciliation, which will open the door to resolving the underlying 
issues that have caused sectarian violence in Iraq.
  President Bush has yet to discuss the failing grade given by the GAO 
to Iraq on political reconciliation.
  Mr. Speaker, ignoring reports and underreporting violence is not the 
answer. This administration has misled the American people for far too 
long. Enough is enough.

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