[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4243]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 GENERALS AGREE THAT PRESIDENT'S TROOP ESCALATION PLAN IS NOT BEST WAY 
                                 AHEAD

  (Ms. SHEA-PORTER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, as we continue today to debate a 
resolution on the floor voicing this Congress' opposition to the 
President's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq, I think it is 
important that we stress that Congress is not alone in opposing the 
President's escalation.
  First of all, it is critical that we remember that the people of Iraq 
do not wish us to be in their country. They wish to sort this out 
themselves, and we need to honor that. But retired and current military 
leaders in our country have also expressed their opposition to this 
plan.
  Retired General Barry McCaffrey described the President's plan as a 
``fool's errand.'' Retired General Wesley Clark said, ``Without such 
fundamental change in Washington's approach, there is little hope that 
the troop surge, Iraqi promises, and accompanying rhetoric will amount 
to anything other than stay the course more.'' And this from Lieutenant 
General Raymond Odierno, the commander of the Multinational Corps in 
Iraq: ``It's clear that you cannot solve this problem militarily. You 
have to have the combination of military, economic and diplomatic 
things that we need to do.'

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