Mr. Speaker, last week the New York Times reported that Iraq is falling well short of the political progress they were supposed to have made by now. Still no constitutional reform. Still no local elections. Still no final action on a law governing distribution of oil revenues. Still no reversal of the de-Baathification laws.

The Bush administration is now saying that their military escalation needs time to work and that these political goals will not be met until the end of the year.

I think it is clear what is going on here. What we have is another tactic by the White House in an attempt to run out the clock until January of 2009 when they can hand over the reins and make Iraq look like someone else's problem.

The President has said that the military commitment to Iraq is not open-ended; yet all evidence is to the contrary.

The supporters of this war, a group whose numbers are dwindling by the day, tell us the next 6 months are critical. This really is the last chance for success. Time and time again, deadlines are established and not met, but there are no consequences, nor is there accountability. I am of the belief that the Iraqi Government won't get its act together until it is forced to govern on its own, until it is no longer propped up by the presence of more than 150,000 American soldiers.

As it is now, as long as we continue with this military occupation, Iraqis have absolutely no incentive to push for democratic reform. As the Times article indicated, the President has waved off these concerns, accusing those of us who want to apply deadlines, pressure of being part of a culture of instant results.

Instant results? I am sorry, the President has had 4 years and more than $400 billion to make this work. Besides, it is this administration that assured us we would be greeted as liberators, that democratizing Iraq would be a cinch, that there would be hardly any sacrifice at all. Now that they have turned out to be monumentally wrong, they are wanting to know why we are demanding answers 4 years later.

I, for one, am tired of being told to be patient, especially when this body is asked to write another enormous check for this war, especially when my country is becoming a global pariah, especially when we learn that our Iraq policy has increased the threat of terrorism, especially when Americans are dying by the thousands, and those lucky enough to make it home alive face a mountain of red tape, substandard care, rodent-infested living quarters at Walter Reed.

I believe we must move toward a fully funded military withdrawal now, not in August of 2008, not at some future date to be determined by the President. End the occupation and start bringing the troops home so that every last one of them can be out of Iraq and with their families in time for the holidays.