[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9307-9309]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              WAR IN IRAQ

  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, news from the Pentagon last week hit so 
many families throughout our great State of Arkansas particularly hard. 
Four years into the conflict in Iraq, the Army National Guard put 
13,000 reservists, including nearly 2,000 from the largest National 
Guard unit in Arkansas, the 39th Infantry Brigade, on notice that they 
should be prepared for a second deployment at the end of this year. The 
Pentagon's decision to potentially deploy these troops marks the first 
time during Operation Iraqi Freedom that full Guard units would be 
called up for a second tour of duty. Our Arkansas troops already have 
performed bravely in Iraq, and we know they will do so again.
  Today, along with many Arkansans honorably serving in the Active-Duty 
military, over 1,600 of our citizen soldiers have been activated for 
service in the Middle East and along our southern border with Mexico. 
The 142nd Fire Brigade based in Fayetteville, AR, mobilized last week 
and is expected in Iraq this summer. Eighty members of the 213th Area 
Support Medical Company are preparing for their mobilization orders in 
June. Many of these members served in Iraq before with the 296th 
Ambulance Company. The headquarters company, the 871st Troop Command, 
is also expected to be mobilized in June.
  Since the war began, our troops have performed their mission with 
incredible bravery and skill in some of the harshest conditions 
imaginable. Their families have supported them and kept them in their 
prayers, have been there with them each step of the way, both in the 
harsh conditions and when they have returned. Their communities have 
supported them, many of which are rural communities. They are 
communities that, when these soldiers have been deployed, have to find 
someone else to fill positions while they are gone, positions such as 
mayor or principal of the school, fire chief or police chief, small 
businesses that keep the economies in those small rural communities 
thriving.
  Because of the sacrifice of these brave men and women, their 
families, and these communities, we have seen a popularly elected 
government replace a ruthless dictator.
  We have seen a democratic constitution approved by the Iraqi people 
replace the authoritarian rule they had known. Tragically, we also have 
seen civilian mismanagement of this war which is not reflective of the 
tremendous sacrifice put forth by our men and women in uniform. Today, 
more than 3,300 servicemembers, 56 with Arkansas ties, have given their 
lives--the ultimate sacrifice in this undertaking--and more than 24,000 
have been wounded.
  Now, as our troops contemplate the thought of returning to Iraq to 
continue an undefined mission, President Bush has chosen to question 
the resolve of Congress to provide our troops with the resources they 
need to finish the job. He has questioned us. I take great exception to 
the President's comments. I find them disingenuous, and I wish to make 
clear to the American people that Congress is committed to providing 
our troops with everything they need to safely and effectively complete 
their mission. I believe that we have worked diligently to bring about 
a bill which would provide just that.

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  Last month, I voted with the majority of my Senate colleagues for an 
emergency spending bill that was above the President's request for our 
troops and would provide nearly $100 billion for operations in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. We met each of his requests and provided every nickel he 
asked for and more. The additional dollars we approved provide for 
their combat equipment, housing, and much needed health care, 
particularly addressing mental health issues for those suffering from 
traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. Our 
soldiers in the field deserve no less. Our returning veterans deserve 
no less. We should be doing everything we possibly can to provide what 
the President has asked and more. We do just that in the supplemental 
bill we will send him.
  Our legislation also sets measurable benchmarks for the Iraqi 
Government such as assuming control of their own security operations, 
containing the sectarian violence, and making the tough decisions 
toward political reconciliation that desperately need to be made--the 
very same benchmarks the President himself has continually called for.
  The Senate did this in record time. In the past 2 years, it took well 
over 100 days to get to a supplemental. This Senate, recognizing the 
urgency of the issue, moved quicker than we have in the last 2 years. 
We have been more expeditious, and we acted in less than 50 days to get 
it passed in the Senate. We now anticipate sending him a bill next 
week. Despite our best efforts to find common ground, however, the 
President has threatened to veto this bill once it reaches his desk, 
although the final language still needs to be negotiated in a 
conference package. I hope it will be done in a way that does expedite 
getting the resources and needs to our soldiers.
  What is so egregious about our approach that the President will not 
consider signing it and has been so adamant? The President points to 
two particular issues. First, he claims this bill would impose 
restrictions on our military commanders and set an arbitrary date for 
withdrawal from Iraq, giving our enemies the victory they desperately 
want. I argue that the constantly shifting objectives of this war make 
it difficult to imagine an end to the U.S. commitment, unless we 
present the benchmarks the President has spoken about and called for. 
The American people are exhausted with this war, and the President's 
justification for staying in Iraq becomes harder and harder to stomach 
each and every day if we do not call on the Iraqis to step up to the 
plate and seize their opportunity to create their own security.
  As Iraq slides deeper into an increasingly violent civil war, the 
President's high-risk military strategy has increased our military's 
involvement. This strategy comes at a time when the U.S. intelligence 
community reports that al-Qaida has become an increased threat to our 
national security because we have devoted so much manpower, resources, 
and attention solely to Iraq. We have in a sense spread ourselves so 
thin in one place that how can we react in the multiple places where 
al-Qaida is strengthening itself? It also comes at a time when our own 
military reports that its readiness has dramatically eroded because it 
has been overextended and underequipped.
  Listening to my military leaders in Arkansas, my guardsmen and 
reservists, who know full well what is going to be asked of them, one 
of the first things on their list of concerns is the lack of medical 
and dental readiness for their soldiers. They find that when some of 
their troops get called up, because they are citizen soldiers and they 
may not have regular health care--which is a whole other issue to be 
dealing with in this body--they are held back on medical hold because 
they don't meet medical readiness or, in some of the more horrific 
stories, they just simply pull that soldier's teeth and send them to 
Iraq because they don't have time to give adequate dental care to bring 
them to that medical-readiness status. It is unacceptable and 
inexcusable that we should be putting those many pressures on the brave 
men and women who fight for this country.
  Our bill seeks to address these issues. In the Senate bill, we 
acknowledge that the conditions in Iraq have changed substantially 
since we originally authorized the war in 2002. We are no longer 
fighting an enemy that will one day show the white flag and surrender. 
Instead, we are now in a referee position of a brutal fight for 
dominance between two warring religious sects and countless militia who 
are all hungry for power. Oftentimes, soldiers come home and say they 
don't even know who the enemy is when they go into these communities 
and seize what they think are civilians and don't know whether it is a 
militia that will lash out and cause great harm.
  While I agree with President Bush that we should not leave Iraq in 
chaos, we don't have to. That is the point we make in this bill. We 
don't have to if we make sure, as we do in this bill, that the Iraqis 
understand what our expectations are of them, the benchmarks we have 
laid down, and the expectations we have of the Iraqis to stand up so 
our American soldiers can step down, as President Bush has so 
frequently said.
  U.S. troops should not be in the position of policing a civil war 
with an open-ended commitment. The American people realize that and are 
clamoring for us to move forward in a positive way to bring our troops 
home.
  That is why U.S. policy must focus on policy that encourages Iraqi 
leaders to take responsibility for their country and attempt to find a 
political solution to this grave conflict.
  America is no stranger to that. In looking for our own freedom 
hundreds of years ago, we realized there were commitments that had to 
be made. We knew there were steps that had to be taken, courageous 
steps that had to be taken. The Iraqi people know that, too. We must 
encourage them now to take those steps.
  Our efforts are already having their intended effect. On Tuesday, the 
President's own Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, stated:

       [T]he debate in Congress has been helpful in demonstrating 
     to the Iraqis that American patience is limited. The strong 
     feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable 
     probably has had a positive impact in terms of communicating 
     to the Iraqis that this is not an open-ended commitment.

  The President has also chided Congress for providing much needed 
emergency funding. This is one of the other areas he brings complaint 
about our supplemental--for providing this much needed emergency 
funding for items such as Katrina recovery, agricultural disaster 
relief, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, 
and firefighting, just to name a few. He has attempted to paint this 
funding as porkbarrel funding when the reality is these are dollars 
which will be used to rebuild the gulf region; dollars which will be 
used for farmers to offset losses over the past several years from 
drought and hurricanes and other types of natural disasters; dollars 
which will be used for health care needs for our Nation's neediest 
children, our most precious blessing; and dollars for our first 
responders and on and on.
  I am reminded of a conversation I had with my grandmother one time 
when she said to me: It is crazy, but some people will sometimes ask 
you, Which of your children do you love the most? How do you respond to 
something like that? As the mother of twins, it is impossible. 
President Bush is the father of twins. He knows how important it is 
that all of your children--all of your children--know they are loved. 
Yes, some, though, who are the neediest may need more attention. That 
is why--that is why--the soldiers, the brave men and women serving in 
uniform from this country, are the first priority on our list here. But 
that does not mean we forget the rest of the members of our American 
family. That does not mean we forget the children who need health care 
or the farmers who are experiencing disaster or, Heaven forbid, we 
forget the members of our American family in the gulf region who have 
yet to get the resources and the help from their Federal Government 
they need to begin to rebuild their lives.
  These are people who are a huge part of our American family and who

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strengthen the fabric of this great country. It is so critically 
important that they, too, be included as a part of strengthening this 
country to which our soldiers will one day return home. These are funds 
which are needed now. The supplemental offers the best opportunity to 
address these emergencies. It is the typical place where we address 
emergencies in the Congress.
  Moving forward, I am pleased President Bush met with Majority Leader 
Reid and Speaker Pelosi yesterday. I see that as a sign of progress. 
But I am also very disappointed that the President continues to put 
veto threats out there about a bill that is so vitally necessary to our 
soldiers and to our entire American family.
  For the security of our country and for the sake of our troops, it is 
time for a new direction. It must be a direction that better reflects 
the ability, the reality, and the real progress that ultimately lies 
with the Iraqis taking responsibility for their own future. We know--we 
know--it can happen if the Iraqis understand what is expected of them.
  This new direction must also acknowledge we must do more for our 
troops when they are in harm's way particularly but also when they come 
home. The love and care--particularly health care--they and their 
families need is essential to keeping our American family whole. They 
not only deserve our appreciation and support, they deserve the very 
best equipment, armor, and other battlefield amenities necessary to 
complete their mission and to bring them home, as well as the proper 
care, benefits, and attention once their military service is complete.
  Our troops are worthy of this commitment from us. We should come 
together as a Congress and an executive branch to make that expression, 
to show our troops and to show our entire American family that at this 
time, at this difficult time in our Nation's history, we come together 
in a bipartisan way, in an American way, to recognize the needs of this 
great country and to move us forward.
  I strongly believe this bill offers the necessary guidelines to bring 
our soldiers home safely, and as soon as possible, to care for this 
incredible country--these communities they will return home to, to keep 
them whole and to keep this incredible fabric of our American family 
strong.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, how much time remains to this side of the 
aisle under the order?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Twelve and a half minutes.

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