[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5516]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         HOW MUCH LONGER WILL OUR TROOPS CONTINUE TO SACRIFICE?

  (Mr. ARCURI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. ARCURI. Mr. Speaker, yesterday General Petraeus and Ambassador 
Crocker made it clear that the Bush administration intends to continue 
its current strategy in Iraq with no changes, despite absolutely no 
progress on political reconciliation.
  Today when we listen to both General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker 
testify again, it's important to remember that the principal objective 
of the President's troop escalation plan was to give the Iraq 
Government time and the proper environment to create political 
reconciliation.
  I recently returned from Iraq, and it's obvious that the political 
reconciliation that we hoped for is not taking place. They have had 
both, but the reconciliation remains elusive. General Petraeus himself 
has admitted that there has been no sufficient progress by any means in 
the area of national reconciliation in Iraq.
  How much longer will General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker and this 
administration demand our troops and our Nation continue to sacrifice 
for the sake of an Iraqi government that is unwilling and unable to 
secure its own future? I would like to hear the answer to that question 
today, because many of us here in Congress do not believe it is our 
Nation's best interest to keep more troops on the ground in Iraq.

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