[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 7231-7232]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             BRINGING RECONCILIATION TO THE PEOPLE OF 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. Madam Speaker, I rise to announce that Representative 
Chris Shays of Connecticut and I have introduced an important 
bipartisan bill in the House today that can help bring desperately 
needed reconciliation to the people of Iraq. The bill is called the 
International Partnership for Reconciliation in Iraq. By the standards 
of the Federal Government, it is a tiny outfit. But few government 
agencies have delivered more bang for their buck or done so much with 
so few people.
  The USIP Institute has an impressive track record of conflict 
management and peace building in the Balkans, the Philippines, Nigeria, 
the Sudan, Rwanda and other parts of the world, including Iraq.
  This bill is vitally important, because, as Ambassador Ryan Crocker 
has said, ``reconciliation is perhaps the most critical challenge that 
Iraq faces right now.'' Our bill would encourage reconciliation by 
supporting the work of a remarkable but unheralded organization called 
the United States Institute of Peace.

                              {time}  1930

  The Institute was established by Congress 24 years ago today. It has 
142 employees and a budget of $32 million. It has been successful 
because it is unique. There is no other organization like it. It is a 
center and a clearinghouse for best practices in preventing and dealing 
with conflict. Its staff includes many of the world's top experts in 
conflict resolution and peacebuilding. These incredibly dedicated 
experts travel to some of the world's most violent places to facilitate 
reconciliation efforts on the ground.
  And the Institute is impartial, it is nonideological. Its only axe to 
grind is peace. That is why USIP has gained the respect and trust in 
all sides in conflict. In fact, you can say the Institute is one of the 
world's top brand names when it comes to making peace.
  In Iraq, the Institute has been working to inspire reconciliation at 
the regional, at the national, and at the community levels. It has been 
particularly effective in the city of Mahmoudiya, which has been called 
the Triangle of Death. There, it has worked to bring Sunni and Shiite 
factions together. Its work has been so effective that the U.S. Army's 
provincial reconstruction teams have asked the Institute to help with 
reconciliation efforts in other parts of Iraq. Not bad for an 
organization whose annual budget is less than what we spend in Iraq 
every 3 hours.
  There is an excellent article on the Institute's work, Madam Speaker, 
in

[[Page 7232]]

the current issue of the National Journal, and I urge all my colleagues 
to read it.
  The bill that Representative Shays and I introduced today would 
provide assistance to the Institute to do the following in Iraq: 
Prevent violent conflict, promote post-conflict stability and 
development, increase conflict management capacity, promote tolerance 
and forgiveness, and facilitate regional dialogue.
  We believe that the Institute's work will also encourage nations from 
outside the region to get involved. Reconciliation in Iraq has become 
something like the weather: Everyone here in Washington talks about it, 
but no one can really do anything about it. We just sort of sit around 
and wait for the Iraqi government to meet their reconciliation 
benchmarks. Then, when they don't, we make speeches.
  This bill is an opportunity to do something about reconciliation by 
supporting an organization that knows how to get the job done. And this 
bill we can all get behind, because no matter where we stand on the 
Iraq issue we all support reconciliation.
  I am proud to join with Representative Shays in asking all of our 
colleagues in the House on both sides of the aisle to cosponsor this 
critically important bipartisan bill.

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