Many Disappointed with Presidents Use of Power

MANY DISAPPOINTED WITH PRESIDENT'S USE OF POWER -- (House of Representatives - October 09, 2004)

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

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, now Bremer has told us what went wrong in Iraq and why. He said we did not have enough troops and, specifically, we did not have enough troops in the days immediately following the fall of Saddam. This led to violence and looting immediately after that fall and created the sense of lawlessness which is killing our troops today.

The question is, why did we not have enough troops?

We had a plan worked out by our superb military not only to bring 200,000 troops from the south, but to bring 60,000 from the north, the Fourth Infantry Division, et cetera. When the Turkish parliament refused to let those 60,000 troops through Turkey, the President could have gone to the U.N. and got the U.N. resolution the Turkish parliament required. He could have delayed the invasion until those troops could be positioned in the south. He did neither. He was too impatient, too foolhardy with the lives of the Americans. He threw away the plan, threw away the northern half of the plan and moved on with the southern half of the plan.

Mr. Speaker, no wonder so many of us who voted to empower the President are so disappointed in how he used that power.