Iraq Resolution

IRAQ RESOLUTION -- (House of Representatives - June 15, 2006)

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, it was September 26, 2002, I was sitting in the cabinet room of the White House with Condoleezza Rice, Andy Card, and President Bush, and the President explained to us that day, and I took notes and still have them, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction; that Saddam Hussein was training terrorists on weapons of mass destruction; and that if military force was used, in President Bush's words, it would be swift. September 26, 2002.

It is now June 15, 2006, some 2,500 soldiers have died and more than 18,000 injured, many like Kevin Pannel, from Glenwood, Arkansas, who have been injured in ways that will forever change his life and so many others.

One thing we know for sure, Mr. Speaker, is that our intelligence failed us. There is not a more difficult decision that Members of Congress are asked to make than whether or not to send our men and women in uniform into harm's way. And when we are faced with making that decision, we must know our intelligence is right.

This has been a war that has touched most families, and mine is no different. My brother-in-law spent Christmas in the Middle East supporting a mission to refuel Air Force aircraft over Afghanistan. My first cousin was in Iraq serving our country when his wife gave birth to their first child.

We all have a story like that. We all know someone who has been there. I escorted a young woman and her two children to the White House this morning for a tour of the White House. They are in Washington, D.C. with her mom and dad on vacation. Her husband was in Iraq when she gave birth to their second child, and he is in Iraq today on his third mission in 4 1/2 years.

I want you to know that our men and women in uniform and their service to our country is much greater, much greater than that of any Member of Congress or any President could ever be, and tonight I honor them.

There has been a lot of talk about this resolution that we will be voting on tomorrow. I have read it three times. It says that we support our troops, and I do. It says that we are against terrorists, and I am. It says that we are against a date certain for withdrawal from Iraq, and I agree with that, and so I plan to vote for this resolution tomorrow. But here is where I disagree with this President.

This President is spending $279 million of your tax money in Iraq every 24 hours. And yet if you ask him to be accountable for it, if you ask him how he is spending that $279 million of your tax money in Iraq every day, he will tell you that you are unpatriotic. I disagree with that. I believe in accountability. I believe that this President, this administration and this Republican Congress, must be held accountable for the $279 million of your tax money that they are spending in Iraq every 24 hours.

I also believe that this President lacks a plan. This resolution is full of saying things like, we support our troops, and I certainly do. It is full of things like saying, we are against terrorists, and I would hope we all are. But there is nothing in the resolution about how we are going to win, how we are going to win, and it is time for this President to give us a plan on how we can win in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, I was in Iraq. We had some 3,000 Arkansas National Guard troops there August 11, 2004, and I went to let them know we support them and to make sure some of this money was being spent on them and the equipment they need to get the job done. I visited with young soldiers from my hometown, soldiers I had taught in Sunday school, soldiers I had duck hunted with.

And so I said to them, what do we need to be doing differently? They said we need to be hiring Iraqis to rebuild their nation's infrastructure. The insurgents are hiring them and they are accepting the money and lobbing cheap bombs at us. Why? Because they need to feed their family. And they also told me we need to be training a lot more Iraqis to take control of their military and police force. August 11, 2004.

February 2006, as a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly I was in Brussels visiting the Ambassador to NATO, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, at his home. I visited with the Iraqi Ambassador there, and I asked him the same question. And you know what? Some 2 years later, he gave me the same answer.

It is time for this President, this Congress, to give us a plan to establish a democracy, to win the peace, a plan that will eventually allow us to bring our men and women in uniform home.

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