[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10615-10616]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, last Thursday a bipartisan majority of the 
Senate passed H.R. 1591. A conference report is basically what it was. 
This bill will be sent to the President's desk tomorrow. I have and 
will continue to encourage the President to set aside his veto threats 
and sign the bill. Our conference report honors and provides for our 
courageous men and women in uniform. It addresses emergencies Americans 
face at home while the war in Iraq rages, and makes our country more 
secure by charting a new course in Iraq so we can return our focus to 
the global challenges that lie ahead. This is a good and responsible 
bill. It will begin the long process of leading us out of a war that 
has cost so many American lives and so much treasure. It not only 
represents the will of Congress but also the will of the American 
people, who call for a new course, and the expertise of the military 
experts who tell us this war can only be won politically, not 
militarily, including the commander on the ground there, General 
Petraeus, who said exactly that, the war cannot be won militarily.
  Regrettably, the President declared he would veto this bill even 
before Congress completed action on it. He has been talking about this 
for several weeks. As conditions on the ground continue to deteriorate, 
that position has become increasingly isolated. In the face of this 
continued deterioration, this Congress stands firm with the American 
people. We are resolved to do what we can to see if the President will 
change course. We ask the President to listen to Congress, to the 
American people, and to his own military experts.
  The President requested $91.5 billion for continued military 
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We provided every penny of that 
request and much more for the military. We provided, in addition, funds 
for emergencies here at home such as rebuilding the gulf coast, 
recovering from agricultural disasters, repairing gaps in homeland 
security, and keeping the children healthy and insured. Most 
importantly, we provided a way forward to end the war in Iraq 
responsibly.
  The way forward is consistent with what our military leaders are 
telling us, including General Petraeus, who repeated again last week on 
several occasions that this war can only be won politically, not 
militarily. The plan, and the conference report that will be sent to 
the President tomorrow, immediately transitions the U.S. mission away 
from policing the civil war, begins a phased redeployment of our combat 
troops no later than October 1, 2007, with the goal of removing all 
forces by April 1, 2008, imposes tangible, measurable, and achievable 
benchmarks on the Iraqi Government, launches the kind of diplomatic, 
economic, and political offensive the President's strategy lacks, and 
rebuilds our overburdened military.
  Today we renew our call to President Bush. There is still time to 
listen. There is still time to come to grips with the facts on the 
streets of Baghdad and throughout Iraq. There is still

[[Page 10616]]

time to sign this bill and change course in Iraq. In the 4 days since 
we passed the conference report, new facts have come to light that make 
our call for a new direction even more urgent.
  This past weekend the United States death toll in Iraq for April now 
is at 104, with all reported deaths not yet known, making it the 
deadliest month of the year and one of the deadliest of the entire war. 
That bears repeating. Despite the President's claims of progress, this 
has been one of the deadliest months of this 4-going-on-5-year war.
  Also this weekend the Special Inspector General for Iraq 
Reconstruction released his quarterly report that paints a dispiriting 
picture of our $20 billion rebuilding efforts. It was all over the 
news; today all over America. The report concludes that rebuilding 
efforts are falling far short of their targets. As a result, after more 
than 4 years of these efforts, Iraq is ``plagued by power outages, 
inadequate oil production, and shortages of clean water and health 
care.''
  The report also tells us that despite spending more than three-
quarters of our allocated funds to increase electricity production, 
Iraq's power grid now produces far less electricity than before the 
invasion, with Baghdad averaging 6.5 hours of electricity per day, down 
from almost 24 hours before the war. The report tells us that despite 
spending nearly 2 billion American dollars, our efforts to provide 
Iraqis with clean drinking water are falling miserably short. This 
report tells us oil production, a critical component of any future 
stable Iraq economy, is still way off target.
  President Bush continues to ask for our patience and continues to 
boast of progress, but this report gives us no reason to believe 
conditions for the Iraqi people are improving any more than they are 
for our troops. This morning the Washington Post reported that Iraq's 
Prime Minister al-Malaki is behind the removal and disruption of the 
duty of some of the Iraqi Army and police force's top law enforcement 
officials. Why? The apparent reason for the dismissal is they are doing 
a good job of combating violent Shiite militias. This has ``angered 
U.S. and Iraqi leaders who say the Shiite-led government is sabotaging 
the military to achieve sectarian goals.''
  It is yet another reason for us to seriously question whether the 
Iraqi Government has the ability or even desire to make the political 
compromises so essential to ending the conflict.
  Finally, this weekend, of all places, the Portland, ME Press Herald 
published an editorial. This is one of many from around the country. 
They wrote:

       It is time to bring our troops home from Iraq. This stand 
     represents a shift in the newspaper's editorial position. 
     Until now, we have supported the military mission in Iraq, 
     though at times we have been harshly critical of President 
     Bush in his role as commander in chief. Now, it is our 
     opinion that major U.S. military operations should cease . . 
     .

  It seems as though every day new facts emerge that give us ever 
greater insight into the astonishing disaster unfolding in Iraq. Just 4 
days since the Senate passed the supplemental conference report, the 
four grim new facts I mentioned have emerged, and this is only the 
latest and not all of the latest.
  The President wonders why the American people have lost patience. It 
is because the news out of Iraq grows worse by the day. When we send 
the supplemental conference report to President Bush tomorrow, we ask 
that he take time to reflect on the fact of that veto. We ask him to 
listen again to the American people. From Maine to California, from 
Minnesota to Florida, we ask him to listen to the American people and 
his own military experts. We ask that he finally summon the courage to 
admit he made mistakes and take the steps we propose to heal the grave 
wounds caused by this war. This bill gives him a path forward. We ask 
him to follow it.

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