[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6966]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              WAR IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, China is facing growing criticism for its 
record on human rights. It has been condemned for its recent crackdown 
on Tibet, its oppression of dissidents at home, and its support for the 
regime in Sudan that is responsible for the genocide in Darfur.
  Russia is another country that has received justifiable criticism for 
cracking down on freedom. President Putin has rolled back many of the 
democratic gains Russia made after the Cold War. And the recent 
elections in Russia were a sham, clearly rigged to favor Putin's 
candidate.
  Because of all of this, you would think that the people of the world 
would have a much higher opinion of the United States, the world's 
greatest democracy, than they would have of anti-democratic China and 
Russia. But that just isn't the case. Incredibly, according to the most 
recent annual survey of international attitudes, America is viewed more 
negatively around the world than China and Russia.
  The Study of World Opinion was conducted by the BBC World Survey. 
According to the BBC, America's image abroad plummeted after our 
invasion of Iraq in the year 2003, and continued to decline in the 
following years.
  The latest survey, which was released on April 1, however, has shown 
some good news. America's image is a little better than it was last 
year. But it is not because the world has suddenly changed its opinion 
about the Bush administration and its policies in Iraq.
  The director of the survey was quoted as saying, ``It may be that, as 
the U.S. approaches a new presidential election, views of the U.S. are 
being mitigated by hope that a new administration will move away from 
foreign policies that have been so unpopular in the world.''
  Mr. Speaker, what the world thinks of America matters. And it is not 
just because we want to win popularity contests. It is far more serious 
than that. Our ability to lead the world is badly damaged when our 
reputation is in tatters. We cannot lead the world in the fight against 
terrorism when so many people in the world, even our best friends, 
believe that we are a threat to peace ourselves. We cannot lead the 
world in the fight against the many other global problems, including 
poverty, disease, climate change, and the lack of educational 
opportunity when we have lost our moral authority and credibility.
  When you go to war under false pretenses, devastate a nation that 
never attacked you, and condone torture, you don't make America 
stronger, you make America weaker, because you undermine values that 
are the real source of our strength. America's great values are 
democracy, the rule of law, peace, and compassion for the people of the 
world. Our occupation of Iraq has trampled on all of these values. The 
veto of Congress' effort to outlaw waterboarding is just the latest 
example of what I am talking about.
  And what was gained by trashing our values? Nothing. A report written 
by the National Defense University, the Pentagon's premier military 
educational institute, called our occupation of Iraq a major debacle.
  Mr. Speaker, 92 Members of the House have written to the President to 
tell him that we will fully fund the responsible redeployment of our 
troops out of Iraq, but we will not approve another penny to support 
the disastrous policy of open-ended occupation.
  After more than 5 years of occupation, it is time for us to redeem 
America's reputation, restore our values, rebuild Iraq, and lead the 
world in the fight for peace once again.

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