[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3199]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  DEMOCRATS WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH FOR NEW DIRECTION IN IRAQ TO BRING 
                              TROOPS HOME

  (Ms. SHEA-PORTER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, as we prepare to mark the unfortunate 
6-year anniversary of the war in Iraq, a war that is being financed by 
deficit spending, it's important to recognize the serious effects this 
war is having on our military. Our generals are warning that our 
military has been stretched and strained too far.
  Perhaps that's why in a recent poll of 3,400 present and former 
military officers, 88 percent of them said that the demands of the war 
in Iraq have ``stretched the U.S. military dangerously thin.'' This is 
the worst readiness crisis since the Vietnam War, and military officers 
are justifiably worried about military preparedness. Military personnel 
are so concerned that nearly three-quarters of the officers surveyed in 
that recent poll said that their civilian leaders are setting 
``unreasonable goals for the military'' in Iraq. And due to multiple 
deployments, the Army is facing a shortage of officers and enlisted 
personnel.
  Mr. Speaker, the 110th Congress is listening to the military. We will 
continue to push for a new direction, a new change, and an end to the 
war in Iraq.

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