[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2824-2825]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is another day in Iraq and another $400 
million. One only need look at the Washington Post, as I did yesterday, 
to see what is happening in Iraq. Front page: ``Sunni Forces Losing 
Patience With U.S.'' And it goes on to say how hundreds and hundreds of 
these Sunnis, who were helping us, have gone home.
  Now, Mr. President, the Sunnis, even before Saddam Hussein, 
controlled Iraq. They are a minority, but they have controlled Iraq for 
generations. Now the Shias control Iraq, and the Sunnis, as we all 
know, are trying to make a comeback. This should cause everyone some 
concern.
  Also, if you look a little bit further in the newspaper, go over to 
page 12, you will see another story dealing with Iraq. ``Iraq Leaders 
Veto Law on Elections.'' We have been trying, and in fact it was the 
purpose of the surge, to bring about some ability in the Iraqis to take 
over the Government themselves, and they passed 4 pieces of legislation 
of the 18 that they were supposed to pass. Everyone said at the time 
they passed they thought basically they were for show. And, obviously, 
the one calling for elections, which was one of the four, in fact, that 
has taken place; the Iraqi leaders vetoed the bill on elections. There 
still could be elections in the fall, but right now they are going to 
have to do new legislation. So now we are down to 3 out of the 18.
  During the month of July, more than one American was being killed per 
day. We are now at 30 on the 28th day of February. Yesterday, one of my 
Republican friends, one of the leaders, said the Democrats are in 
denial. ``It's almost as if they are sorry things have gotten better.''
  Mr. President, all Americans are glad for any American or Iraqi life 
saved. But unlike the minority, which spent 6 years ignoring the 
warning signs and following the President's policies in lockstep, 
Democrats are clear-headed about where this war has been, where it 
stands today, and what we must do to change course and make our country 
safer.
  Mr. President, last night, I think it was about 7:30 or 8 o'clock, I 
went back to my office, and there was a man waiting there, one of the 
Capitol guides. As disabled and wounded Iraqi veterans come through, he 
brings them by, and if I am in my office, I am always happy to say 
hello to these wounded veterans. Burt is the tour guide, and my office 
is just off the Senate floor, so it is fairly easy for them to bring 
them by.
  Last night was a remarkable night. I have met probably 50 of these 
veterans whom Burt brings around. Last night, a 22-year-old man from 
Missouri by the name of Matthew McGuire came by. He was there with his 
girlfriend, his wife to be.

[[Page 2825]]

  I said: How are you doing?
  He said: I'm OK.
  He was standing. He was unstable. He had a cane that held him up.
  I said: Why don't you sit down, and we will talk a bit.
  I said: How long were you in Iraq before you got hurt?
  He said: Well, I was there for 6 months.
  Five times in that 6-month period, Mr. President, he suffered 
attacks. Once he was on foot patrol, and he was knocked down by a bomb. 
One time he was a gunner on a vehicle and was knocked off that. He has 
all of his limbs. But last month, in January, in one 24-hour period, he 
had 37 seizures. And I told him about Senator Johnson and said: I wish 
Senator Johnson were here.
  I talked about Senator Johnson being in a coma for the period he was 
and how much he had improved and that he can now walk on his own and 
speak 95 percent of how he was able to. I had a picture taken with him; 
sat and gave them both a hug and kissed her on the cheek. It was really 
a dramatic night when this young man was telling me that in one 24-hour 
period he had 37 seizures.
  It is one thing to talk about almost 4,000 Americans being killed and 
30,000 being wounded, and another when you talk to one of these heroic 
young men and women. I told him I so appreciated his service to our 
country and that we are going to do everything we can to make sure the 
sacrifice he made is not in vain. But these are more than just 
statistics. These are people. And Matthew McGuire is a person who has 
been hurt extremely bad. His life will never be the same.
  I said: Have you been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder? 
And he said, yes. But in addition to that, he has brain damage, as 
indicated by the 37 seizures he had in one 24-hour period. He is only 1 
of the 30,000 who have been wounded in a war that is stretching our 
military to a breaking point.
  There is going to be testimony in the Joint Economic Committee today 
by Nobel Prize winning economist Stiglitz. Mr. Stiglitz has written a 
book that will come out in about 10 days called ``The $3 Trillion 
War.'' This is a Nobel Prize winning economist who has had access to 
Pentagon records, and he has written how this war has cost and will 
cost at least $3 trillion.
  General Powell said last year that the Army is about broken, and that 
is a quote. The day before yesterday, General Casey, Chief of Staff of 
the Army, confirmed what Powell said a year ago, when Casey said:

       The demand for our forces exceeds sustainable supply.

  Admiral Fallen and Admiral Mullin agree that concerns about our troop 
commitment to Iraq may limit our ability to address other global 
challenges. So we have to take seriously the concerns of General Casey, 
General Powell, Admiral Fallen, Admiral Mullin, and countless other 
military leaders and foreign policy experts.
  It is time that we understand the sacrifices made by our valiant, 
heroic military have come at a time when they have done what they 
needed to do, and we have to get them home. Four hundred million 
dollars a day. I repeat what I have said a couple times in the last 2 
days, Mr. President. The Iraqis believe they have the most significant 
oil reserves in the world. Everybody recognizes they have the second 
largest oil reserves in the world. They think they have the largest oil 
reserves in the world. It is a wealthy nation, and they should take 
care of their own.
  I think what we have talked about is that there should be a force 
left there of American troops to take care of any counterterrorism 
activities that need to go forth, and we should have limited training 
of Iraqis. We have trained almost a half million now, 430,000. And, of 
course, we have to protect whatever assets we have there. It is a 
situation that calls for a conclusion.
  As I said yesterday, when is enough enough? I think this debate has 
been good. I think we need to have more in-depth discussions on a 
Federal program that is costing us more than $400 million a day. I 
think we have spent 2 days on this, and I believe that is not adequate, 
but we will be back. The President has asked for another, I think, 
about $120 billion more to the end of this fiscal year for the war in 
Iraq, and there will be more discussion at that time. I think we will 
wait until somewhere late in April to take that up. But the time is 
coming when we will discuss this in more detail.
  I appreciate the good nature of the debate. We just disagree. The 
Republicans think everything is fine; we don't.
  It has been a very positive, in my mind, debate. It has been a 
civilized debate. I think the American people have been served well by 
this debate we have had the last couple days.
  I would say on the schedule, I am working with the Republican leader 
to find out when he feels it would be appropriate to have a vote. We 
are waiting for him. I will visit with him later today.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican whip.

                          ____________________