Iraq

IRAQ -- (House of Representatives - June 16, 2006)

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I call upon the President of the United States to present a plan to Congress to start bringing our troops home from Iraq.

It has been almost 4 years since the President came to Congress and sought the use of force in Iraq. At that time, Mr. Speaker, I voted against giving the President the use of force. It was not a popular vote in my congressional district, but it was the right vote. I was proud of my vote 4 years ago, and I am proud of my vote today.

I have remained an outspoken critic of the President's policies in Iraq. There was no connection between Iraq and the attack on our country on September 11. There was no evidence of any weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons, and other weapons information was distorted. There was no direct threat against the United States.

We have paid a heavy price for the war in Iraq. Over 2,400 soldiers have died, 18,000 have been injured, and we have spent $300 billion-plus of taxpayer money.

Our international standing has suffered. In December 2004, I visited the troops in Iraq. I wanted to see firsthand what was happening in Baghdad. My experiences I will not soon forget. I thanked our soldiers for their service to our country. They deserve to come home to their families and a grateful Nation.

A lot has changed in Iraq. It has been 3 years since the Saddam Hussein regime fell. It has been 2 years since an interim government was formed and the sovereignty of Iraq was transferred to that interim government. It has been 15 months since the first elections in Iraq. Iraq has a new constitution. They have elected a permanent government.

In December of 2005 we went on record in the defense authorization bill that 2006 should be a year of transition in which the Iraqi security forces take control of their own security. That has not happened.

It is time to change the policies in Iraq, and yet the President still says let's stay the course. We need a new direction in Iraq. That direction should include the drawdown of American troops. We have 130,000 soldiers serving in Iraq. 20 percent are from our National Guard and Reservists. Military experts have recommended a drawdown of 10,000 troops a month.

Although we should not announce a specific time schedule, it is reasonable to expect that one-half of our combat troops could be home by the end of 2006, and all of our combat troops home by the end of 2007. It should start with our National Guard. They were never intended to be the primary coverage for a military operation. We need them home to meet local needs.

This would allow us to achieve certain necessary objectives, bringing our troops home to their families and not in the middle of a civil war. It is an important message to the Iraqi government that they cannot assume that American soldiers will be there indefinitely to take care of their own security needs. It would remove propaganda for al Qaeda in which they look at the United States as being an occupation force, and it allows us to stage outside of Iraq to work with our allies and international community to fight international terrorism. We have lost our focus in the war against terror. It would help us preserve an all-volunteer military.

We also need to organize an international conference, including the Iraqi government and our friends internationally. The United States is the only superpower. We need to mend our diplomatic fences. We need to engage the international community. It is in their interest to help us in Iraq, to create a ceasefire for the Iraqi government and its militia, train the security forces, and coordinate humanitarian aid and infrastructure assistance.

We need to honor our commitment to our military veteran families and strengthen troop recruitment. The voluntary military is in danger because of excessive deployments. Morale is down because of long tours of duty and our failure to live up to our commitments on veterans' benefits.

The recruitment goal in 2005 was missed by 6,000, and our National Guard and Reservists have only hit 80 percent of their goal. The answer is the proper deployment of our military and honoring our veterans, commitments on benefits, including health benefits, so that the 18,000 who are returning injured from Iraq and the 50,000 who we anticipate will have battle fatigue related issues are dealt with as we have promised.

Mr. Speaker, I call upon the President to change course in Iraq in order to further U.S. interests.

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