[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2082-2083]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                PENTAGON TO KEEP 130,000 TROOPS IN IRAQ

  (Mr. CARNAHAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CARNAHAN. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, Defense Secretary Gates 
confirmed what many of us in Congress have long suspected: The Bush 
administration plans to leave nearly 130,000 troops in Iraq until the 
day he leaves office next January.
  The war in Iraq has been misguided from the start and mismanaged in 
its prosecution. It has led to a significant military readiness crisis, 
deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan, a readiness crisis for 
National Guard forces here at home, and a record low standing for us 
abroad.
  This month, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau said that 88 
percent of our stateside Guard units are ``very poorly equipped'' with 
less than half of what they needed to respond to a domestic crisis. 
Five years of war in Iraq

[[Page 2083]]

is indeed straining our troop force and their equipment. Yet the Bush 
administration wants more of the same.
  Mr. Speaker, this Democratic-led Congress will continue to fight to 
change direction in Iraq and responsibly redeploy our troops home.

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