Reid: President Should Listen to Will of People, Sign Bill to Change Course in Iraq

    WASHINGTON, April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Senate Majority Leader
 Harry Reid made the following statement on the floor today.
     Mr. President, last Thursday a bipartisan majority of the Senate passed
 H.R. 1591, the Fiscal Year 2007 Emergency Supplemental Funding conference
 report.
     This bill will be sent to the President's desk tomorrow. I strongly
 encourage him to set aside his veto threats and sign this bill.
     Our conference report honors and provides for our courageous men and
 women in uniform.
     It addresses the emergencies Americans face at home while the war in
 Iraq rages.
     And it makes our country more secure by charting a new course in Iraq
 so that we can return our focus to the global challenges that lie ahead.
     This is a good and responsible bill. It will begin the long process of
 leading us out of a war that has cost us so many American lives and so much
 treasure.
     It not only represents the will of Congress -- but also the will of the
 American people who call for a new course -- and the expertise of military
 experts who tell us this war can only be won politically, not militarily.
     Regrettably, President Bush declared he would veto this bill even
 before Congress had completed action on it. As conditions on the ground
 continue to deteriorate, that position has become increasingly isolated.
     In the face of this continued deterioration, this Congress stands with
 firm resolve. We ask the President to listen to Congress -- to the American
 people -- and to his own military experts.
     President Bush requested $91.5 billion for continued military
 operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We provided every penny of that request
 and more.
     We provided funds for emergencies here at home -- such as rebuilding
 the Gulf Coast, recovering from agricultural disasters, repairing gaps in
 homeland security, and keeping children healthy and insured.
     And most importantly, we provided a way forward to end the war in Iraq
 responsibly.
     This way forward is consistent with what our military leaders are
 telling us, including General Petraeus -- who repeated again last week that
 this war can only be won politically, not militarily. Our plan:
     -- Immediately transitions the U.S. mission away from policing a civil war
 
     -- Begins the phased redeployment of our troops no later than October 1,
        2007 with a goal of removing all combat forces by April 1, 2008
 
     -- Imposes tangible, measurable and achievable benchmarks on the Iraqi
        government;
 
     -- Launches the kind of diplomatic, economic and political offensive that
        the president's strategy lacks;
 
     -- And rebuilds our overburdened military.
 
     Today we renew our call to President Bush:
     There is still time to listen.
     There is still time to come to grips with the facts on the streets of
 Baghdad and throughout Iraq.
     There is still time to sign this bill and change course in Iraq.
     In just the four days since we passed the conference report, new facts
 have come to light that make our call for a new direction even more urgent:
     This weekend the U.S. death toll in Iraq passed 100 for April -- making
 it the deadliest month of the year and one of the deadliest of the entire
 war.
     That bears repeating: despite the President's claims of progress --
 this has been one of the deadliest months of this four year war.
     Also this weekend, the Special Inspector General for Iraq
 Reconstruction released his quarterly report that paints a dispiriting
 picture of our $20 billion rebuilding efforts.
     The report concludes that our rebuilding efforts are falling far short
 of their targets. As a result, after more than fours years of these
 efforts, Iraqis -- quote -- "plagued by power outages, inadequate oil
 production, and shortages of clean water and health care."
     The report tells us that despite spending more than three quarters of
 our allocated funds to increase electricity production, Iraq's power grid
 now produces less electricity than before the invasion -
     -- With Baghdad averaging just 6.5 hours of electricity per day, down
 from almost 24 hours before the war.
     The report tells us that despite spending nearly 2 billion American
 dollars, our efforts to provide Iraqis with clean drinking water are
 falling miserably short.
     And the report tells us that oil production -- a critical component of
 any future stable Iraq economy -- is still off target levels as well.
     President Bush continues to ask for our patience and continues to boast
 of progress. But this report gives us no reason to believe that conditions
 for the Iraqi people are improving any more than they are for our troops.
     This morning the Washington Post reported that Iraqi Prime Minister
 Nouri al-Maliki is behind the removal and disruption of duty of some of the
 Iraqi army and police force's top law enforcement officials --
     -- And the apparent reason for their dismissal -- they were doing too
 good a job of combating violent Shiite militias.
     This has -- quote -- "angered U.S. and Iraqi leaders who say the
 Shiite- led government is sabotaging the military to achieve sectarian
 goals --"
     And it is yet another reason for us to seriously question whether the
 Iraqi government has the ability or even desire to make the political
 compromises that are so essential to ending this conflict.
     Finally this weekend, the Portland, Maine Press Herald published an
 editorial.
     They wrote -- quote -- "It is time to bring our troops home from Iraq.
 This stand represents a shift in the newspaper's editorial position. Until
 now, we have supported the military mission in Iraq, though at time we have
 been harshly critical of President Bush in his role as commander in chief.
 Now, it is our opinion that major U.S. military operations should cease ...
 "
     Mr. President, it seems as though every day new facts emerge that give
 us ever greater insight into the astonishing disaster unfolding in Iraq.
     In just four days since the Senate passed the supplemental conference
 report, the four grim new facts I just mentioned have emerged -- and this
 is only the latest.
     If the President wonders why the American people have lost patience, it
 is because the news out of Iraq grows worse by the day.
     When we send the supplemental conference report to President Bush
 tomorrow, we ask that he take some time to reflect on that somber fact.
     We ask him again to listen to the American people and his own military
 experts.
     We ask that he finally summon the courage to admit his mistakes and
 take the steps we propose to begin to heal the grave wounds he has caused.
     This bill gives him a path forward. We ask him to follow it.
 
 

SOURCE Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid