[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18756]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     THE ADMINISTRATION HAS LEFT THE HOMELAND VULNERABLE TO ATTACK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, for a long time now, we've been waiting for 
the administration to make an announcement about troop withdrawals from 
Iraq. Well the big day came last week, and it went over like a lead 
balloon. The President said that he is going to leave troop levels 
basically steady.
  Mr. Speaker, the administration's decision to ``stay the course'' in 
Iraq is absolutely unacceptable. The American people know that invading 
Iraq was a mistake in the first place. And they want to bring all of 
our troops out, not just token forces.
  The President said that he can withdraw a handful of troops without 
the surge because the surge has been a success. But when he leaves 
office, troop levels will actually be higher than it was before the 
surge. That leads me to ask a simple question. If the surge has been so 
successful, why do we need more troops after the surge than before it?
  The President also said that normal life is returning to Iraq. Try 
telling that to the 4 million Iraqis who are still refugees and not 
able to return. Half of them are children.
  The President also told us that civilian deaths are down. Try telling 
that to the relatives of the 1,200 civilians who were killed in Iraq 
this summer.
  And what is an acceptable number of civilian deaths? This summer, an 
average of 13 Iraqi civilians were killed every day. If that happens in 
any State or any city in America, we would call it a crime wave. But if 
it happens in Iraq, the administration seems to think it's something to 
celebrate.
  The administration has also been telling us for a long time that the 
occupation of Iraq is making America safer. But that claim doesn't hold 
up, either. The independent and bipartisan Partnership For a Secure 
America issued a report last week which says that America is still 
``dangerously vulnerable to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks.'' 
It also said that ``the threat of a new, major terrorist attack on the 
United States is still very real.''
  And a joint report issued last week by the House Foreign Affairs 
Committee and the House Committee on Homeland Security found that the 
administration has not delivered on a myriad of critical homeland and 
national security mandates. It is clear, Mr. Speaker, that the 
administration's single-minded obsession with the occupation of Iraq 
has left our homeland open to another attack, an attack that could be 
much worse than 9/11.
  Today we commemorate the terrible anniversary of that terrible day--
not today, last week we did. It is outrageous that after 7 years we 
can't say that our citizens are safer than they were that day. And the 
administration's decision to stay the course in Iraq will only continue 
to make things worse.
  The only solution is to set a firm timetable for the safe 
redeployment of our troops out of Iraq. Giving the Iraqi people back 
their sovereignty will allow us to work with the international 
community to rebuild that shattered country. Iraq needs electricity, 
schools, roads, hospitals and water. And America needs to invest in 
health care, renewable energy, education and jobs. Those aren't just 
domestic needs. They are critical parts of our national security.
  The administration, Mr. Speaker, has tried to solve all of our 
problems with military force alone. That strategy has been a miserable 
failure. We cannot bomb or torture our way to victory in the fight 
against terrorism. We must work to end the poverty and the despair that 
caused it. The sooner we learn that lesson, the safer America will be.

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