[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 9040-9041]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           SITUATION IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, before I begin I would like to 
just have a moment of silence for the fallen students of Virginia Tech 
and our colleagues, who were with them today, the people of Virginia, 
and the people of the United States of America.
  Thank you.
  As I begin this 5 minutes, I believe it will be the challenge of this 
body to find a way to confront the issue of violence through physical 
acts and violence through words. Many of us will propose new gun 
legislation, some of us will look to outreach, but we will also seek 
understanding. That understanding I think leads me to join with the 
Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus as I acknowledge the 
outstanding women of the Rutgers University basketball team, to thank 
them for their dignity, their diplomacy, and their excellence; and to 
speak, just a very short brief word, of my agreement with the final 
action on Imus and his unfortunate and destructive words.
  Many of the first amendment advocates, of which I happen to be one, 
are up in arms. Many have said the punishment was too harsh. But I use 
the age-old teaching tool for those of us in constitutional law classes 
around the Nation. And though the first amendment is pure, the right to 
association, the freedom of religion is pure, but it is qualified by 
the Supreme Court that indicates that we cannot call ``fire'' in a 
crowded theater. And so it is obvious that unfortunately what Imus did 
with these words, these women athletes, these academically excellent 
students is that they cried ``fire.'' And fire cannot be allowed to 
burn, and the fire had to be extinguished, and Imus and his ugly words 
had to be taken off of the public airwaves, wishing him well for 
hopefully a reformation and a rebirth so that young people all around 
America can, one, not be subjected to the violence of words, and they 
cannot be subjected to the brutality, the violence of guns.
  Let me move, Mr. Speaker, quickly to an additional cause for my 
standing here today. And that is to salute my colleague, Congresswoman 
Lynn Woolsey, who tonight will give her 200th statement in opposition 
to the war in Iraq. I join her today, sadly, because again young 
people, valiant, patriotic young people are on the front lines of Iraq. 
They have not protested, they have not said, I will not go, but they 
look to their leadership, policymakers to have the courage of 
conviction.
  My friend from Texas is right, this is an unending and unsuccessful 
political action; 3,309 are dead, the violence over the weekend has 
been unspeakable. The cleric, al-Sadr, has taken out his ministers from 
the government. That means the coalition government is on the brink of 
collapse. Why? Because the prime minister is stubborn and will not sit 
down with his cabinet and parliament and ask in a respectful and 
collaborative way for the United States to be thanked for its valiant 
work of its military and asked that we stand down so that Iraq can 
stand up.
  What a tragedy: ego over commonsense. What a tragedy: the continued 
loss of life over big egos.
  And so I say to the administration, we will not give you an unending 
mandate to continue the terrible loss of life of our troops, and the 
reason we will not do that is because we declare a military success.
  I wear on my lapel the flag of the POWs, the celebration and 
commemoration of men and women still lost at war, still missing in 
action, some now who have come home, soldiers that are lost. There is a 
military success, a legislative initiative of H.R. 930 that I have 
declaring a military success, the discovery of no weapons of mass 
destruction, disposing of Saddam Hussein, and many other valiant 
efforts of our military. And then we must now move to diplomacy.
  It is time now to recognize lives and patriotism rise stronger than 
egos and bluster and the sadness of the debacle in Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, as a proud member of the Progressive and the Out of Iraq 
Caucuses, I rise to speak about the current situation regarding the 
Iraq War. But before I do, let me express my condolences to the 
families and friends and neighbors and loved ones who suffered such 
horrific losses yesterday. I speak of Virginia Tech University, one of 
the Nation's great land grant colleges, where we witnessed the most 
senseless acts of violence on a scale unprecedented in our history.
  Neither the mind nor the heart can contemplate a cause that could 
lead a human being to inflict such injury and destruction on fellow 
human beings. The loss of life and innocence at Virginia Tech is a 
tragedy over which all Americans mourn and the thoughts and prayers of 
people of goodwill everywhere go out to the victims and their families. 
In the face of such overwhelming grief, I hope they can take comfort in 
the certain knowledge that unearned suffering is redemptive.
  The war in Iraq has also caused a lot of unearned suffering in Iraq 
and here at home. This is the same war, Madam Speaker, whose proponents 
misrepresented to the Nation would last no more than 6 months and 
likely less than 6 weeks. This same war in Iraq, we were led to believe 
by the Administration, would cost less than $50 billion and would be 
paid out of the ample revenues from Iraq's oil fields. The war in Iraq, 
the American people were promised, should have ended years ago with 
Americans troops greeted as liberators by jubilant Iraqis throwing rose 
petals at their feet.
  As I and my colleagues in the Progressive Caucus and the Out of Iraq 
Caucus forecast at the time, the starry-eyed, rosy scenarios laid out 
by the President, Vice-President, and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld would 
come to pass in fantasy land, but not in the cold, hard world of 
reality which they refused to live in.
  To date, the war in Iraq has lasted longer than America's involvement 
in World War II, the greatest conflict in all of human history. But 
there is a difference. The Second World War ended in complete and total 
victory for the United States and its allies. But then again, in that 
conflict America was led by FDR, a great Commander-in-Chief, who had a 
plan to win the war and secure the peace, listened to his generals, and 
sent troops in sufficient numbers and sufficiently trained and equipped 
to do the job.
  As a result of the colossal miscalculation in deciding to invade 
Iraq, the loss of public trust resulting from the misrepresentation of 
the reasons for launching that invasion, and the breath-taking 
incompetence in mismanaging the occupation of Iraq, the Armed Forces 
and the people of the United States have suffered incalculable damage.
  The war in Iraq has claimed the lives of 3,309 brave servicemen and 
women (64 in the first 16 days of this month). More than 24,600 
Americans have been wounded, many suffering the most horrific injuries. 
American taxpayers have paid nearly $400 billion to sustain this 
misadventure.
  The depth, breadth, and scope of the President's misguided, 
mismanaged, and misrepresented war in Iraq is utterly without precedent 
in American history. It is a tragedy in a league all its own. But it 
was not unforeseeable or unavoidable.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1591, the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health 
and Iraq Accountability Act the House passed last month provides real 
benchmarks and consequences if the Iraqi Government fails to live up to 
its commitments. First, it requires the President to certify and report 
to Congress on July 1, 2007 that real progress is underway on key 
benchmarks for the Iraqi government. If the President cannot so 
certify, redeployment of U.S. troops must begin immediately and be 
completed within 180 days. If the President fails to

[[Page 9041]]

certify that Iraq has met the benchmarks on October 1, 2007, a 
redeployment of U.S. troops would begin immediately at that time and 
must be completed within 180 days. In any case, at the latest, a 
redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq must begin by March 1, 2008, and 
must be completed by August 31, 2008.
  I have to say, Mr. Speaker, the Iraqi Government is not off to a good 
start. The Green Zone surrounding Baghdad remains insecure. Earlier 
this week, a suicide bomber managed to penetrate the security perimeter 
of the Iraqi Parliament and detonated a bomb that killed at least three 
members of the Iraqi parliament and wounded scores of others. 
Additionally, the market represented by Senator McCain as an example of 
the improved security situation in Iraq was turned into a killing field 
within days after Senator McCain's visit.
  And yesterday we learned that radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada 
al-Sadr has reasserted his political power by yanking his loyalists 
from the Cabinet, a move aimed at showing his supporters he retains his 
credentials as an opposition leader and which increases the pressure on 
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to loosen his embrace of the U.S. 
occupation, which many Iraqis blame for violence in the country.
  These developments, Mr. Speaker, illustrate the wisdom of requiring 
benchmarks the Iraqi Government must meet to justify continued American 
blood and treasure in Iraq. Moreover, because those benchmarks are 
established pursuant to President Bush's policies, it is passing 
strange indeed that he would threaten to veto the bill since it 
necessarily means he would be vetoing his own benchmarks for the 
performance of the Iraqi government. He would be vetoing his own 
readiness standards for U.S. troops. The President demands this 
Congress send him an Iraq war bill with ``no strings.'' But the only 
``strings'' attached, Mr. Speaker, are the benchmarks and standards 
imposed by the President himself.
  Mr. Speaker, in addition to the enormous financial cost, the human 
cost to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces has also 
been high but they have willingly paid it. Operation Iraqi Freedom has 
exacerbated the Veterans Administration health care facility 
maintenance backlog; placed an undue strain on the delivery of medical 
treatment and rehabilitative services for current and new veterans; and 
exacted a heavy toll on the equipment, training and readiness 
requirements, and the families of the men and women of the United 
States Armed Forces.
  The emergency supplemental acknowledged the sacrifices made by, and 
the debt of gratitude, we and the Iraqi people owe to Armed Forces of 
the United States. But more than that, it makes a substantial down 
payment on that debt by providing substantial increases in funding for 
our troops.
  The supplemental includes a total appropriation of $2.8 billion for 
Defense Health Care, which is $1.7 billion above the President's 
request. The additional funding supports new initiatives to enhance 
medical services for active duty forces and mobilized personnel, and 
their family members. Included in this new funding is $450 million for 
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Counseling; $450 million for Traumatic 
Brain Injury care and research; $730 million to prevent health care fee 
increases for our troops; $20 million to address the problems at Walter 
Reed; and $14.8 million for burn care.
  Unlike the Republican leadership of the 109th Congress and the Bush 
Administration, the new Democratic majority is committed to America's 
veterans. What's more, we back up that commitment by investing in their 
well-being. For example, the supplemental bill we passed included $1.7 
billion above the President's request for initiatives to address the 
health care needs of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and the backlog in 
maintaining VA health care facilities, including $550 million to 
address the backlog in maintaining VA health care facilities so as to 
prevent the VA from experiencing a situation similar to that found at 
Walter Reed Medical Center.
  We provided an additional $250 million for administration to ensure 
there are sufficient personnel to support the growing number of Iraq 
and Afghanistan veterans and to maintain a high level of services for 
all veterans; $229 million for treating the growing number of Iraq and 
Afghanistan veterans; $100 million for contract mental health care, 
which will allow the VA to contract with private mental health care 
providers to ensure that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are seen in the 
most timely and least disruptive fashion, including members of the 
Guard and Reserve; and $62 million to speed up the processing of claims 
of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, when American troops are sent into harm's way, America 
has an obligation to do all it can to minimize the risk of harm to the 
troops. That is why it was so important that we included additional 
funding above the President's request to support our troops. We 
provided $2.5 billion more to address the current readiness crisis of 
our stateside troops, including ensuring that they are better equipped 
and trained. We included $1.4 billion more for military housing 
allowances and $311 million more for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected 
(MRAP) vehicles for troops in Iraq. And there is included in the 
supplemental $222 million more for infrared countermeasures for Air 
Force aircraft to address the growing threat against U.S. air 
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
  Equally important, Mr. Speaker, the supplemental contains language 
directing the President to adhere to current military guidelines for 
unit readiness, deployments, and time between deployments.
  In the supplemental we passed, the Defense Department is required to 
abide by its current Unit Readiness policy, requiring the chief of the 
military department concerned to determine that a unit is ``fully 
mission capable'' before it is deployed to Iraq. The President may 
waive this provision by submitting a report to Congress detailing why 
the unit's deployment is in the interests of national security despite 
the assessment that the unit is not fully mission capable.
  The Defense Department is also required to abide by its current 
policy and avoid extending the deployment of units in Iraq in excess of 
365 days for the Army and 210 days for the Marines. The provision may 
be waived by the President only by submitting a report to Congress 
detailing the particular reason or reasons why the unit's extended 
deployment is in the interests of national security.
  Mr. Speaker, to reduce the incidence of combat fatigue and enhance 
readiness, it is important that our troops have sufficient ``time out 
of the combat zone and training between deployments. That is why we 
require the Defense Department to abide by its current policy and avoid 
sending units back into Iraq before troops get the required time away 
from the war theater. The President may waive this provision by 
submitting a report to Congress detailing why the unit's early 
redeployment to Iraq is in the interests of national security.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people spoke loudly and clearly last 
November when they tossed out the Rubber-Stamp Republican Congress. 
They voted for a New Direction in Iraq and for change in America. They 
voted to disentangle American troops from the carnage, chaos, and civil 
war in Iraq. They voted for accountability and oversight, which we 
Democrats have begun to deliver on; already the new majority has held 
more than 100 congressional hearings related to the Iraq War, 
investigating everything from the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse of 
Iraq reconstruction funding to troop readiness to the Iraq Study Group 
Report to the shameful mistreatment of wounded soldiers recuperating at 
Walter Reed Medical Center.
  And we will not stop, Mr. Speaker, until we are clearly on a glide 
path to the day when our troops come home and where we can ``care for 
him who has borne the battle, and for his widow and orphan.'' And even 
then our work will not be done. For we must still be about the business 
of repairing the damage to America's international reputation and 
prestige. But this Democratic majority, led by the Progressive Caucus 
and the Out of Iraq Caucus, has ushered in a new era of oversight, 
accountability, and transparency to defense and reconstruction 
contracting and procurement.

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