[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11789]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 DEMOCRATS TRIED TO CHANGE COURSE IN IRAQ BUT PRESIDENT BUSH REJECTED 
                         THAT CHANGE OF COURSE

  (Mr. BUTTERFIELD asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, last week, President Bush had a chance 
to change the direction of the war in Iraq, but he rejected it. He 
rejected a plan that would finally hold the Iraqi Government 
accountable for meeting the benchmarks that he laid out earlier this 
year.
  According to the nonpartisan Brookings Institute, the Iraqi 
Government is failing to meet the political benchmarks they were 
supposed to make. By vetoing the bill, the President was condoning such 
inaction.
  The President claims the situation is getting better in Iraq. Wrong. 
April was the deadliest month of the year and one of the deadliest of 
the entire war.
  Retired General William Odom said last week, and I'm quoting, ``No 
effective strategy can be devised for the United States until it begins 
withdrawing its forces from Iraq. Only that step will break the 
paralysis that now confronts us.''
  General Odom is correct. Today our troops are serving as referees in 
a deadly civil war that shows no end in sight. This Congress offered 
the President a dramatic change, and he rejected it. We're not going to 
give up, because ending this war is simply too important.

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