[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9884]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            THE WAR IN IRAQ

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. Madam Speaker, as President Bush said yesterday, this is a 
tough time in Iraq.
  This week our Congress will hear from our commander in Baghdad, 
General David Petraeus, here on Capitol Hill. I suspect we will hear 
what I heard from General Petraeus on the streets of Baghdad just 3 
weeks ago. That is, despite a wave of recent insurgent bombing, this 
war is not lost.
  In fact, because of the President's surge and the brave conduct of 
our forces and the Iraqi forces, we are making modest progress in Iraq. 
In Baghdad, despite recent bombings, sectarian violence is down. 
Baghdad is not safe, but it is safer because of the presence of more 
than two dozen U.S. and Iraqi joint operating centers, and now more 
than 20 Sunni sheiks across the Al Anbar Province have united together 
to oppose the insurgency and al Qaeda.
  I truly believe that we are making progress because of the 
President's surge. This war is not lost. The American people know in 
their hearts that victory is our only option.
  Let's give General Petraeus a willing ear, the time and the resources 
and the authority to secure a victory for freedom in Iraq, for 
ourselves and our posterity.

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