By Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski   

It is time for the Iraqis to take care of Iraq.  Our military won the war and removed Saddam Hussein from power, and it is now the responsibility of Iraqi leaders to establish a civil society.  It is time for American troops to come home.

More than 4,100 American service members have lost their lives in Iraq, and more than 30,000 have been injured.  We have spent more than $600 billion, and some estimate that the total cost of the war will exceed $1 trillion.  The lives of tens of thousands of American families have been permanently disrupted and we may never know the full costs.    

President Bush has relied too heavily on activating National Guard and Reserve forces to federal service to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Many members of these units have completed multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has caused significant hardship for families and small businesses throughout the country.  Our military has been stretched to the breaking point, and we need to ensure that it is capable of defending our nation from wherever threats may come. 

The Iraq war has diverted much needed resources away from fighting the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and defeating al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization that attacked our country seven years ago on September 11, 2001.  Osama bin Laden remains alive, free, and committed to inflicting more damage to the United States.  We must focus our efforts on defeating al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations which target innocent Americans. 

If we were no longer spending $12 billion a month in Iraq, we could finally launch our nation onto a path of energy independence and no longer need foreign oil.  We need to invest in extracting domestic sources of energy, including Alaskan oil, off-shore natural gas and Pennsylvania coal.  We need to carefully expand the use of nuclear power.  We need to develop better batteries to run electric cars, and find cheaper methods of producing hydrogen to power fuel cells.  Our own Pennsylvania farmers can profit by producing cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels, and of course we need to continue to perfect all other alternative sources of energy, including solar energy and wind power. 

Last year General David Petraeus launched a military "surge" for the purpose of giving the Iraqi people the "space" necessary to resolve their internal differences and stabilize their own government.  Instead of feeling pressured to resolve critical issues such as building a reliable police force and army, fairly distributing oil revenues, and removing the stain of corruption from the government, Iraqi leaders have become dependent on the security provided by the American military.  Furthermore, the Iraqi government is estimated to have a cumulative budget surplus of nearly $80 billion, and has spent only $3.9 billion on rebuilding Iraq while the United States has spent over $23 billion. 

It is time for the Iraqis to take care of Iraq.  It is time for our troops to come home.