Iraq War Resolution
IRAQ WAR RESOLUTION
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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman.
Mr. Speaker, before I begin my comments, I must admit that it seems that our friends from across the aisle have forgotten what the subject of this debate remains. I was under the impression that we were here to debate a resolution opposing the President's so-called surge plan. Yet I keep hearing commentary that appears to be designed to distract the American public from the real reason that we are gathered for a conversation on our future involvement in Iraq.
Let it be known, Mr. Speaker, that when it comes time to vote, HANK JOHNSON will be voting in favor of House Concurrent Resolution 63.
Now, ``help is on the way.' Those were the watchwords of a former Presidential campaign 7 years ago. Yet here we are, neck deep into the second term of the Bush-Cheney administration. And when one considers the current state of our military's readiness, our proud military's readiness, one has to wonder, where has the help gone? Where is the help?
If this was the help that was promised us 7 years ago, at the current state of our readiness, I would be reluctant to see what not helping our fine military men and women would mean.
I must point out that I, along with each of my colleagues in this distinguished body, do support our troops. But the issue at hand is whether, unlike campaign promises of the past, we intend to back our rhetoric with action.
We are now engaged in a debate about committing more troops to what can only be described as an ill-conceived, poorly planned, and misguided attempt to bring some sort of stability to a region that has suffered terribly since the President first decided to go it alone and make his stamp upon history, for better or worse.
Although I must admit, it has even become difficult to remember the exact reason the President used to justify his decision to take us to war in Iraq; but allow me to briefly summarize for you the reasons that the President has given the American public in his attempt to justify his decision to go to war.
Number 1, weapons of mass destruction. There were none. Number 2, the nuclear threat. There was none. Number 3, links to al Qaeda. There were none. And yet now, when we debate the wisdom of sending more than 20,000 young men and women into battle in this so-called surge, we are expected to trust an administration which has been so consistently wrong. It is difficult to remember that we are in Iraq fighting for a war whose justification has not yet been justified at all.
So at this point, when we look at the state of the readiness of our military, it has been called into question. Recruiting, the Army has failed to achieve its recruitment goals by 17.8 percent in 2006, and moreover, recruitment quality has suffered. The percentage of Army recruits with high school diplomas has declined. The above-average middle category test scores of our recruits have declined, and the number of recruits scoring in the lowest acceptable middle category has increased. Our retention rates are soft.
We have got over 3,000 killed in Iraq, 20,000-plus wounded; meanwhile we are having problems with our equipment shortfalls, which are glaring in the combat theater, and also for our nondeployed personnel who are in the process of training to be deployed to Iraq and who cannot be properly trained without adequate equipment.
Then we have got the issue of multiple deployments, people having been deployed three and even four times to the theater, but yet this President proposes to send an additional 22,000 troops, plus support personnel, into this civil war in Iraq, where we are simply sitting ducks and falling victim to ever more sophisticated improvised explosive devices, i.e., roadside bombs.
This killing is continuing at exorbitant rates, and so this is what we are here to talk about with this resolution. It is important for the American public to know that we support our military. We definitely want to see them do the job that they must do. However, this troop surge is wrong. Two wrongs do not make a right.
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