[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5450]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         CONGRATULATING GENERAL PETRAEUS AND AMBASSADOR CROCKER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, let me say briefly, I wish to offer my 
congratulations, along with those of others, to both General Petraeus 
and Ambassador Crocker for their astonishingly good work over the last 
9 to 12 months. In virtually every measurable way that you can look at 
Iraq, conditions have dramatically improved. That is a direct result of 
the smart military strategy that has put Iraq in a position where it 
can realistically aspire to be a relatively normal country by the 
standards of the Middle East and certainly an ally on the war on 
terror, which is extremely important.
  I also think it is important for all of us to remember we have not 
been attacked here at home for almost 7 years--a direct result of the 
strategy of getting on the offense and pushing back against those who 
would attack us here at home, which we have done both in Afghanistan 
and in Iraq.
  So it was an opportunity, with the appearance of the general and the 
ambassador, to congratulate them for their outstanding work over the 
last year. We look forward to going forward in Iraq in a way that 
leaves behind a stable country that can make a positive contribution to 
the security of the United States here at home and in the Middle East.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, 71 percent of the American people believe 
that invasion of Iraq was a mistake, a foreign policy blunder, some say 
the worst this country has ever done, the worst foreign policy 
blunder--71 percent. During that poll, there were a few percentage 
points where people had no opinion. So about 15 percent of the people 
think the invasion of Iraq was the right decision. We must get our 
troops home. The sooner we do that, the better off we are.
  I look forward to General Petraeus's and Ambassador Crocker's hearing 
today before the two relevant committees in the House. When this is all 
over and done with, we will be able to assess when we can have a better 
opportunity of bringing our troops home. As we indicated earlier today, 
it seems difficult--when the violence is up, we need more troops and 
when it is down we need more troops. We can't have it both ways.
  The military is at a breaking point. I am not saying that; I am 
repeating what others have said. General Cody, who is a four-star 
general on Active Duty, has said he has never seen our military in such 
a state of disrepair as it is now. So things aren't glowingly good. We 
have to work together to try to rebuild our military, and one way we 
can do that is focus on getting the right number of troops to 
Afghanistan and rebuilding our military, which is, as General Cody 
said, in very bad shape.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the troops are coming home in an 
orderly way. Precipitous withdrawal we know would lead to a new haven 
for terrorists with the opportunity to attack us here at home. I think, 
clearly, we will debate this issue in the fall. The American people 
have this on their minds, obviously. They also have on their minds the 
economy, health care, and other matters. They are interested in their 
future. I think the American people are not interested in having 
additional attacks on the homeland in the future. That is something we 
will debate not only in the Senate but out on the campaign trail this 
fall.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, one of the things that will be debated this 
fall is whether our troops need to be in Iraq for another 50 or 100 
years. I think that will be a pivotal part of the debate that takes 
place in the Presidential elections.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, of course, no one has said that, and my 
dear friend, the majority leader, knows it. That is a swipe at Senator 
McCain, who was talking about troop deployments overseas, not the 
continued engagement in warfare. The mainstream media--which has not 
been particularly friendly to the war--has hammered those who have 
accused Senator McCain of saying we were going to have a 100-year war 
in Iraq.
  This is a deliberate misrepresentation of what he has said. Anybody 
who looks at the entire exchange, which occurred in a town meeting in 
New Hampshire back in January, knows precisely what he was saying. He 
was talking about having troops deployed overseas, which we have had in 
Germany and Japan and South Korea for many years. He was talking about 
a situation under which they are not under attack, not being killed or 
wounded but deployed overseas, not only to protect our security 
interests but also to reassure our allies. That is what Senator McCain 
was talking about. No one I know is suggesting--and it is almost 
laughable to suggest--that we are talking about that kind of lengthy 
military engagement.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, if one of the Democratic hopefuls had said 
it, I would also be trying to spin it in a way that looked good. The 
fact is, you can't spin what Senator McCain said at that town hall 
meeting in a favorable light. His record speaks for itself as to how he 
feels about the war in Iraq.
  My friend always talks about the fact the American people don't want 
attacks here. Of course, they don't want attacks here at home. Of 
course, they don't. Everyone should understand, though, that prior to 
the invasion of Iraq, there was not a terrorist in Iraq, and now, of 
course, there are lots of them. We need to focus on Osama bin Laden, on 
his safe haven he has in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and as General Casey--
also an active member of the military--said, we need to get more troops 
into Afghanistan. We can't do that when we have 140,000 troops this 
July in Iraq.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, one other thing. One thing we do agree 
on--in trying to end this exchange with something we do agree on--I 
think both the Democrats and Republicans agree the size of the Marines 
and Army is insufficient. I think there is bipartisan support in the 
Congress to increase the size of both the Army and the Marines. I think 
that is something we can agree on. Hopefully, that will be achieved in 
the coming years.

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