Washington, DC - Mr. Speaker, I want to commend and thank the Iraq Study Group for their work and for producing the report released earlier this week.  Mr. Baker, Mr. Hamilton, and other members of the Study Group did a tremendous job of putting political pressures and differences aside to do this work.

A change is needed, and the study group report can start us in the right direction.  I hope the Administration acts on these recommendations immediately to improve the situation in Iraq and to bring our troops home as soon as possible.

 

The events just this week remind us what is at stake every day we stay in Iraq – 11 troops lost their lives in five separate incidents in Iraq on Wednesday, bringing US casualties to 30 just this month.  Dozens more Iraqi civilians have been killed this week in car bombings and mortar attacks.

 

The Iraq Study Group report recommends starting talks with Iran and Syria to try to stop the sectarian violence.   I believe we should be cautious in doing so, but I believe this is a necessary and needed step.  Each day we fail to do so is one more day these countries could be helping to cut off the flow of arms and training to militias and insurgents in Iraq.

 

Mr. Speaker, again I applaud the work of the Iraq Study Group.  This war has cost too much and achieved too little to this point. 

 

It is time we change course and look toward bring our troops home, and these recommendations can help us get to that point.  

 
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