James Davis: “Mr. Chairman, my trip to Iraq last week convinced me of the need to support this bill, to provide to our troops with the…”

“Mr. Chairman, my trip to Iraq last week convinced me of the need to support this bill, to provide to our troops with the tools and protection they need to do their job. In addition, I am convinced if we do not adopt this bill, Iraq will descend into chaos and ultimately violence. However, while I support the bill, I want to take the opportunity to urge President Bush to abandon the unilateral approach we have taken over the last few months in Iraq and begin to share more of the burden with our allies. For months, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have been urging the President to do exactly that. In my trip to Iraq, I was remarkably struck by the resistance in the office of the CPA, the authority running Iraq, to bring our allies in. The stakes are too high, the challenges are too great, for us to try to do this by ourselves. We need to bring in allies, particularly from some of the Muslim countries, to help our soldiers work on a side-by-side basis. We need to get beyond symbolism. We need people on the ground that speak Arabic, that are equipped to work side-by-side with our soldiers.”