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Washington, DC -- U.S. Rep. Ron Klein (FL-22) issued the following statement Monday regarding the testimony given by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker today to a joint committee hearing between the House Armed Services Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“Today’s congressional testimony from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker reconfirmed that it is time for a change and a new direction in the Bush Administration’s policy toward Iraq.
“Their testimony today follows a report issued last week from the independent and non-partisan General Accounting Office, which found that the Iraqi government has failed to meet fifteen of the eighteen benchmarks for success. And while few successes have been made, they are small in comparison to what the people of the United States and our troops are sacrificing. This war has cost us the precious lives of over 3,750 of our brave men and women in uniform, $565 billion of our U.S. tax dollars, stretched our military to the limit, and hindered our ability to address the real threats that are looming in Iran and Syria. Our troops have done everything we’ve asked of them -- wherever there have been successes, it’s because of them. But our troops cannot continue to shoulder the burden.
“Furthermore, President Bush made it clear that his purpose for implementing the troop surge was to provide the Iraqi government with the ‘breathing room’ it needed to make progress within its own government. Well, where is that progress? The Iraqi government has overwhelmingly failed to create jobs, generate electricity, rebuild its roads, schools, hospitals, and sewer systems -- instead, waiting for the U.S. to do it for them. And on top of their lack of progress, the Iraqi government actually had the audacity to take a month long vacation this summer!
“I was also disappointed that both General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker did not give enough attention to the growing Iranian manipulation in Iraq. There is no question that Iran’s influence in Iraq is mounting – whether it’s by selling weapons to the insurgent groups who target our troops or by heavily investing in a nuclear program which threatens to destabilize the entire region. I also would have liked to hear more regarding how our position in Iraq has affected our ability to interact and negotiate with Iran and Syria, as it relates to the security of the Gulf region. As part of my ongoing effort to understand our status in Iraq and how it’s affecting our ability to influence foreign policy around the globe, I will continue to ask these questions.
“Where does it end? It’s clear that the Iraqi government is either not committed or unwilling to make progress, and we have no business putting the lives of our troops on the line as we wait for the Iraqi government to get their act together. It’s time for the Iraqi government to learn to stand on its own, without the United States coming in to pick up the slack. We simply cannot continue to shoulder the responsibility of cleaning up the mess that the Iraqi government fails to undertake.
“The United States military is engaged in the middle of a religious bloodbath, with little end in sight. It’s time to implement a safe, responsible strategic withdrawl of our troops from Iraq, and focus on the real threats of terrorism, in particular in areas where Al Qaeda is prevalent.”
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