[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24684-24685]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           BUSH REFUSES TO BUDGE FROM THE STATUS QUO IN IRAQ

  (Mr. BRALEY of Iowa asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, last week President Bush told the 
American people that the status quo would continue in Iraq for 10 
months. Last year, the American people demanded a change of course in 
Iraq. They wanted us to begin the process of bringing our troops home. 
The President's response: a troop escalation plan that sent an 
additional 30,000 troops to Iraq.
  At the time, he said that if the Iraqi Government did not meet 
certain economic and political benchmarks, they would lose the support 
of our Nation. After months of delay, September became the moment of 
truth; and despite the fact that the nonpartisan GAO report found that 
the Iraqi Government had failed to fully meet 15 of the 18 benchmarks, 
the President said the troop escalation plan is going to continue until 
next summer.
  Mr. Speaker, it is now clear that the President's only plan for Iraq 
is to stay the course until he can hand off the war to his successor.
  The time for stalling is over. Staying the course is no longer 
acceptable. It is time for Republicans to join us in charting a new 
course.

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