[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3197]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        A NEW DIRECTION IN IRAQ

  (Mr. MORAN of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's 
vitriolic, anti-American, Holocaust-denying leader, just concluded the 
first ever trip to Iraq by an Iranian President. Many commentators in 
the Middle East hailed the visit as a diplomatic success for him. 
Before our invasion, no Iranian President would have dared to step foot 
inside Iraq. He was received by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki 
not with one, but four kisses for luck at a staged press conference 
with Iraqi media.
  I quote Ahmadinejad: ``The Americans have to understand the facts of 
the region. Iraqi people do not like America.''
  After 6 years in Iraq, 4,000 American lives lost, tens of thousands 
wounded, and $570 billion spent, this is what we have to show for it? 
Iran's anti-American leader being given the opportunity to try to 
humiliate us at a joint press conference with Iraq's leader?
  Mr. Speaker, we are seeing the fruition of our strategic blunder in 
Iraq. The groundwork has been laid for a Shiite-dominated Iraqi 
theocracy, loyal to Iran and diametrically opposed to our strategic 
interests in the region. We can stay this course or chart a new 
direction that will end this failed policy and bring our troops home.
  It's about time we chose a direction that is worthy of the patriotism 
of our troops and the sacrifices of their families.

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