[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 6061-6062]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, on January 11, 2 months ago--it seems 
incredible it has been that long ago, but it has been--President Bush 
announced his new war plan, the so-called surge. At that time, 
administration officials gave the American people the strong impression 
the President's plan would require the temporary--temporary--deployment 
of 21,500 new troops in Iraq. During the last several days, news 
reports confirm this new plan was nothing more than a bait and switch, 
a new name for an old, failed policy.
  First we learned that 21,500 troops cited by the President did not 
include support in other elements and the true number of additional 
troops associated with his proposal could have been as many as 40,000 
troops. Then, over the weekend, we learned two other troubling facts 
about the President's plan.
  In the wake of continued violence in Iraq that prompted one of our 
top generals there to call for more troops, the American commander in 
Iraq, General Petraeus, made it clear still more troops are needed. 
Even more disconcerting, according to a recent New York Times report:

       Military officials in Iraq have indicated they would need a 
     large American troop presence for at least a year and 
     probably for longer to achieve lasting stability.

  President Bush is not surging; he is sustaining his failed policy. 
The consequences of the President's flawed policy in Iraq are 
staggering. Yesterday, three more American troops were killed. We are 
fast approaching 3,200 dead Americans. We may be there; last count was 
3,195. More than 25,000 now have been wounded. It has stretched our 
military, it has eroded our veterans health care system, and plunged 
Iraq deeper and deeper into chaos. No matter how one looks at it, 
America is less safe today because this President has waged war in 
Iraq. We must change course, and it is time for the Senate to demand he 
do it.
  Soon, the Senate will again have that opportunity to tell the 
President to change course. We have been blocked in efforts to have the 
debate on Iraq. Last week we offered the Republicans yet another 
opportunity to debate. It is my hope they will agree to this debate on 
Wednesday morning.
  I appreciate very much the Republican leader voting for cloture. We 
are going to finish that bill tomorrow.
  It is my hope they will agree to this debate so we can complete this 
important work; that is, the 9/11 bill, and then turn our attention to 
the war.
  America is losing about 20 soldiers a week, about 3 a day, and 
spending $280 million a day in Iraq. It is a downward spiral that will 
continue unless the Senate joins the American people in demanding a new 
direction in Iraq.
  The war hangs over all we do in the Senate this year. Even if we 
debate this week, we will not be done. We are getting something from 
the House on the supplemental and we will return to this issue of the 
supplemental, very likely, and we will continue until there is a change 
of course. There is very much work to do--the priorities everyone knows 
about, such as immigration, stem cell; we have the budget ahead of us. 
There are also issues such as the crisis in the judiciary and the 
intelligence authorization bill, that will demand our attention in the 
weeks ahead. I hope we can promptly complete action on the 9/11 bill 
tomorrow, and I am confident we will do that. We have so much to do.
  There is a lot of negativity about what we do here in the Senate, but 
when you sort through all of it, and I recognize the war in Iraq is 
hanging over everything we have done--but when you look at what we have 
done these past few weeks in the history of the 110th Congress, we have 
done OK. We have been able to do the work on ethics and lobbying. We 
have done the minimum wage bill. We completed the continuing resolution 
and we are going to complete 9/11 legislation soon. It appears we are 
going to be able to do the reform of the Attorney General's problems 
that have been so much in the

[[Page 6062]]

press recently. We have confirmed the only appellate court judge who 
has been brought to the floor. We hope to do another one within the 
next week or so. We now have another one on the calendar, so we will do 
that. The Judiciary Committee has three over there they are looking at 
now. I know the distinguished Republican leader is very concerned about 
moving appellate judges. We are going to do our best to cooperate with 
him in that regard.
  Simply in closing my remarks today, I recognize we have a difficult 
situation with Iraq. Sometimes we need to sort through all that and 
recognize we have been able to accomplish a lot, and it has been done--
the only way it can get done--on a bipartisan basis. We have had a few 
bumps in the road, but if we are patient and willing to recognize there 
will be bumps in the future, even having both sides not hold any 
grudges--legislative grudges, at least--I think we have the ability to 
do a lot more in this Congress.

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