[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5314-5315]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I know many people have been watching 
General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker reporting on what is going on 
in Iraq. Obviously, it is very important information, and I would hope 
we would heed what they are saying.
  Regrettably, I must say that too many in the Democratic Party remain 
in denial over the progress being made in Iraq and still remain 
politically vested in defeat. We have heard the leaders of the party 
say: Oh, we have already lost. They believe that might give them an 
advantage in the November elections. That is certainly a bad way to 
decide what our strategy should be to defend the security of the United 
States.
  We have made great progress in our fight against terrorism. The war 
is far from won, but today there is no question that the central 
battleground in the global war on terror is Iraq. Our men and women in 
the military are fighting the al-Qaida terrorists there in Iraq, where 
Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri say they are going to establish 
their caliphate. We are fighting that war so that future generations 
will not have to fight them on our own soil.
  For my colleagues who argue we should not be fighting them in Iraq 
but in Afghanistan, let me get you a little bit of intelligence news. 
Al-Qaida is not in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida left Afghanistan after we 
deposed Saddam Hussein. What we are fighting there are the indigenous 
Taliban insurgents, not al-Qaida.
  More than anyone else, our brave veterans who are fighting in Iraq 
against the al-Qaida know the dangers of defeat. They know what they 
and others like them have done. Their word to us is: We as a nation, 
but more specifically we as your military, have made too many 
contributions and too many sacrifices to walk away from this essential 
battle for our freedom and declare defeat.
  My own son, a marine, returned last fall from his second tour of Iraq 
with his scout snipers. He returned on success because they cleaned al-
Qaida out of Falluja and Al Anbar, and they turned the job of keeping 
security over to the Iraqi Sunni Citizens Watch and the police.
  If my colleagues will listen today to the voices of veterans who are 
on the Hill in their tan golf shirts, they are the voice of people who 
have been in the field--the Vets for Freedom, with whom I have had the 
honor of being this morning, and to General Petraeus and Admiral 
Crocker--these are the people we need to listen to, not the voices of 
moveon.org and the Code Pink extremists. We need to bring our troops 
home, but we need to bring them home on success. That is what they 
fought for; that is what they are there for.
  As one man in the field reported today: You can't be for us, for the 
troops, and against the war because we are the war.
  Despite the evidence of progress in Iraq, the media seems trigger 
happy to report bad news. Less than 48 hours after Iraqi security 
forces began their campaign against the militant Shia factions in 
Basra, the media already was declaring the operation a failure. The 
operation initiated on March 25 was designed to quell rogue factions of 
Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army. In covering the fighting, the press 
displayed its previously seen penchant for quickly throwing in the 
towel when the military operation does not instantaneously achieve its 
goals. If the operation were a failure and didn't meet its goals, then 
why did Muqtada al-Sadr order a cease-fire? I don't know of any 
commander who has declared a cease-fire when he is winning.
  Right now, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are 
testifying before the Senate on the progress being made in Iraq. I 
expect that testimony will show that the new counterinsurgency, or COIN 
strategy, backed up by the surge, has been working and has brought 
Iraqi citizens to our side in the fight against al-Qaida.
  Since the surge forces began operating under this new policy in mid-
2007 and the adoption of the COIN strategy, there is some important 
security progress to point to. Overall violence in Iraq, civilian 
deaths, sectarian killings, and attacks on American forces are all 
down. Coalition forces have captured or killed thousands of extremists 
in Iraq, including hundreds of key al-Qaida leaders and operatives. 
American troops are beginning to return home on success.
  In addition to security progress, the Iraqis are also making critical 
political progress. While this front has been the slowest--and we must 
continue to demand that the Iraqis assume greater control--the 
Government has taken several important steps. The Iraqi Government has 
enacted a pension law that keeps the promises made to Sunnis. It has 
enacted a debaath- ification law that allows midlevel Baath Party 
members to reenter political and civic life. It has passed a budget 
that focuses spending on security reconstruction projects and 
provincial governments. It has enacted an amnesty law, and it has 
reached agreement on a provincial powers law that will ensure the 
Iraqis the right to be heard in upcoming elections.
  Democrats are in denial of the progress in Iraq despite this evidence 
of both security and political gain. Their rejection of the reality in 
Iraq does not extend just to the current Petraeus and Crocker 
testimony, however. Some who favor retreat and defeat in Iraq have also 
taken issue with the classified Iraq National Intelligence Estimate, or 
NIE, distributed to lawmakers last week.
  Always quick to tout and cherry-pick information from a NIE that can 
be twisted to support their motives, the retreat-and-defeat gang has 
outright rejected the latest Iraqi intelligence report. They claim it 
is ``too rosy.''
  Unfortunately, this denial is no more than rhetoric and fodder for 
the mainstream media because we know that defeat in Iraq would have 
serious national security implications and do great harm to our image 
around the world, an image that so many of our colleagues on the other 
side say they wish to repair. Iraq is the central battleground in the 
war on terror. In addition to giving al-Qaida safe haven, defeat in 
Iraq would embolden a possibly nuclear-armed Iraq. The intelligence 
community has stated in an open hearing before the Intelligence 
Committee earlier this year that if we withdraw from Iraq before their 
army and police can maintain security, violence and chaos will spread 
across the region.
  This has been a tough fight. We have lost over 4,000 of our bravest 
and finest men and women. The surest and most fitting way to honor 
their memory and their service is to ensure victory, not defeat.
  Mr. President, I have several Members on my side who have been 
waiting for time in morning business. What is the situation?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republicans control 9 minutes.
  Mr. BOND. I yield the floor.

[[Page 5315]]

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, the Senator from Georgia is also 
waiting to speak, so I would like to be notified at 4\1/2\ minutes, and 
I will split it down the middle with the Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. President, I rise today to speak about General Petraeus' 
testimony. I was able to watch a little bit of it before I came over 
here. I was beginning to see, of course, the questioning from the Armed 
Services Committee. I think it is so important that we look at the big 
picture and what General Petraeus is saying. Also, of course, we have 
Ambassador Crocker who is doing a terrific job over there.
  I was there at the end of February, just 6 weeks ago. I met with both 
of them. But what I saw was an incredible change from the other time I 
had been in Iraq. As General Petraeus said himself, from June 2007 
through February 2008 deaths from ethno-sectarian violence in Bagdad 
have fallen 90 percent. American casualties have fallen sharply, down 
by 70 percent. In the last year, the number of high-profile attacks 
have fallen by 50 percent.
  All of us believe one American death is not worth the price we would 
pay if we had a choice. But every one of those who are there understand 
our mission and how important it is. Every one of those with whom I 
have met, both the people who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan 
and the families of those who have lost loved ones, say: Do not leave. 
Do not leave without a victory, without seeing through the successes 
that we have gained.
  They understand this mission. Unfortunately, it does not seem that 
the majority in the Congress see it as those who are on the ground and 
who have suffered the most do. As recently as February, the Senate 
leadership was trying to stop the surge by requiring an immediate and 
arbitrary withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq when we didn't even have 
the results. Yet those of us who have been there recently have seen the 
results.
  I went to a police station with our embedded forces and to a security 
regional center with embedded forces. I did that because I was very 
concerned. I wanted to see it myself. I was very pleased with the fact 
that our troops embedded there were causing the Iraqis to come forward 
and do more and help us.
  The Sons of Iraq, which are now 91,000 strong, are serving as 
neighborhood watches. They are manning the checkpoints. They are taking 
us to the weapons caches. Do you know that, since the beginning of this 
year, we have found, because of the Sons of Iraq's cooperation, more 
weapons than we discovered in all of 2006? We are making progress. Mr. 
President, 21,000 of the Sons of Iraq have now been accepted into 
security forces or government work. It is amazing that we are seeing 
military gains, and we are seeing political gains. It is not as fast as 
we would like to see it, of course, but it is progress. It is in the 
right direction.
  The consequences of leaving precipitously are consequences that would 
be unthinkable. People talk about the cost of Iraq, the cost of the war 
on terror, as if the costs are prohibitive. The costs are high. But the 
cost of leaving and letting al-Qaida have a base in Iraq are much more 
expensive. We are talking about 9/11 costing over $1 trillion, if you 
put it in monetary terms, which I don't think we should--this is not 
the thing that we should even be considering. We should be supporting 
our troops, and we should be supporting the effort that would require 
complete success for our country. This is the United States of America.
  I met with the Vets for Freedom who just met by Senator Bond as well. 
They are the patriots who have been there, who know what it is like, 
and who are saying stay and fight and win. It is the right thing for 
the United States of America to do.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I thank the distinguished Senator from Texas for 
allowing me part of the time. I ask unanimous consent to be recognized 
for 10 minutes.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I associate myself with the remarks of the distinguished 
Senators from Texas and Missouri. I am grateful for great Americans 
such as David Petraeus, and I am particularly grateful for the young 
men and women, Americans who volunteer day and night, who go to defend 
liberty, peace, and freedom around the world. I come to the floor now 
for just a few minutes to speak on the housing bill pending, coming 
back, and the stimulus bill coming to the floor, and a cloture vote 
that is going to take place at 2:15.

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