Communication from Member of Iraq National Assembly

COMMUNICATION FROM MEMBER OF IRAQ NATIONAL ASSEMBLY -- (House of Representatives - July 22, 2005)

(Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, since the 12th of June, there has been an embargo on the American press for reporting on a letter written by the Iraqi legislature. For that reason I will read it here today:

``As the National Assembly is the legitimate representative of the Iraqi people and the guardian of its interests, and as the voice of the people, especially with regard to repeated demands for the departure of the occupation, we note that these demands have earlier been made in more than one session but have blatantly been ignored from the Chair. Worse still is the Government's request to the U.N. Security Council to extend the presence of the occupation forces, made without consultation with the people's representative in the National Assembly who hold the right to make such fateful decisions.

``In line with our historic responsibility, we reject the legitimation of the occupation and we repeat our demand for the departure of the occupation forces, especially since our national forces have been able to break the back of terrorism and to notably establish its presence in the Iraqi street and to recover the state's dignity and the citizen's trust in the security forces leading to the noble objectives in an Iraq whose sovereignty is not embellished.

``Peace and God's Mercy and Blessings be Upon You.

``Falah Hasan Shanshal.''

This letter was signed by at least 126 members of the 275-member democratically elected Iraqi parliament and it gets nothing in the American press.

Everyone should know this.

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