Washington, DC— Today the House considered H.R. 2956, the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act.  The bill provides for the safe, responsible, and accountable redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq.  It requires the Secretary of Defense to begin the redeployment of troops from Iraq within 120 days of the date oenactment.  The legislation also mandates that the redeployment be conducted in a safe and orderly manner.

Congresswoman Watson delivered the following comments today on the floor of the House in support of H.R. 2956:

“Madame Speaker, just a few months ago, the President told us he needed to escalate the commitment of U.S. soldiers to Iraq to disarm ethnic militias.  Now we are arming them?

“Just a few months ago, the President told us that ethnic militias were undermining the security and stability of Iraq.  Now they are the guarantors of stability and security of Iraq?

‘When the President’s strategy for victory involves arming the people who just a few months ago were our sworn enemies, it becomes difficult for any of us to explain to our constituents what our troops are still doing there in Iraq.  The troops have done their job.  But they will not be successful if the President cannot decide what the mission is.

‘I am sure we will hear from a number of people here that we need to give the escalation more time, that we need to wait until September.  I am not willing to do that, Madame Speaker.  I am not willing to explain to the families of the soldiers who will die between now and September that it took me an extra three months to figure out that President Bush has no strategy for success in Iraq.

‘The surge is not a strategy, Madame Speaker.  It is a tactic in search of a strategy.  I urge my colleagues to support this resolution, to speak out now in favor of redeploying our troops and shifting to a political strategy intended to put the Iraqis in charge of their own security and their own destiny.  Thank you, Madame Speaker.”