Date: 2007-01-09
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I rise this evening to give voice to tens of millions of Americans throughout our country who are looking for an end to the war in Iraq. I rise on behalf of our brave soldiers on our battlefield who have done everything our country has asked of them under terrible circumstances and who have made terrible sacrifices. I rise on behalf of their families who have suffered great losses and who worry day and night for their safety and for the loved ones still in combat. I rise this evening to call on our President to give the Nation what it has deserved. a viable plan to safely bring this war to an end. to redeploy the American forces out of Iraq. and turn the future of Iraq over to the Iraqi people once and for all. President Bush is soon expected to call for an escalation to the war in Iraq. seeking to deploy an additional 20.000 troops into combat. The Presidents plan would be just the latest in a series of flawed and tragic decisions that he has made r~garding Iraq. The President was advised at the outset of the war by one of his top generals to send a large American force in order to win. President Bush rejected that idea. and since then he has tried at different times a surge of American troops in an effort to win the war. Now. each time that effort has failed. Now he appears ready to defy the odds and take great risks with the lives of others in order to try his plan one more time. The President has failed to make a compelling case for adding more troops into what is clearly the greatest American foreign policy disaster in half a century or even longer. I applaud the efforts of House Speaker NANCY PELOsI and Senate Majority Leader HARRY REID. who have called for a new course in Iraq. On Friday they wrote: "Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain. Rather than deploy additional forces to Iraq. we believe the way forward is to begin the phased redeployment of our forces in the next 4 to 6 months. while shifting the principal mission of our forces there from combat to training. logistics. force protection and counterterror." I implore the President to seriously consider these views. and I implore him to also consider the views of the current and former military and political leaders of his own administration who have openly questioned sending additional troops to Iraq. For instance. on December 17 in 2006. former Secretary of State Colin Powell said. "I am not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad for the purposes of suppressing this communitarian violence. this civil war. will work." On November 15 General Abizaid expressed. "Ive met with every divisional commander. General Casey. the Corps commander. General Dempseywe all talked together. And I said. In your professional opinion. if we were to bring more American troops now. does it add considerably to our ability to achieve success in Iraq? And they all said no." The war in Iraq is a mistake from the beginning. and I voted against authorizing this war. But regardless of ones position then. clearly there is no sound basis now for increasing Americas military presence in Iraq. The war has claimed the lives of over 3.000 American soldiers and has wounded more than 20.000. and it has clearly become a civil war. It is unconscionable to ask one more American soldier to fight and die in a civil war in Iraq. The President must engage key nations like Syria. Iran. Saudi Arabia. Jordan and others in an effort to create a political solution in Iraq. The Nation opposes the ongoing war in America. There is still time for the President to change course. to reconsider his call for 20.000 more troops in Iraq. and to begin the redeployment of our troops and our forces now. I salute those who continue to serve in Iraq. I salute their families and pledge to them my unyielding support and respect as we try to safely. bring the war to an end. Mr. President. listen to the people of the Nation which you govern. They have spoken. and they have spoken overwhelmingly. They reject the prolonging of the war in Iraq. They want our soldiers redeployed and brought home safely. and they want it done now. Please. Mr. President. listen to the people of this Nation.