María Elvira Salazar: “I rise today with the hope that this Chamber will soon find consensus in our efforts to find a new course and a new…”

“I rise today with the hope that this Chamber will soon find consensus in our efforts to find a new course and a new direction in Iraq. I am more convinced than ever that we must change our mission in Iraq from one of combat to one of support. We must place the responsibility for Iraq's future and for the security of its citizens in the hands of the Government of the Iraqi people. Until we change our mission and we take our military out of their streets, Iraqi politicians will not take the necessary, courageous, and final steps toward a political reconciliation that can achieve a lasting peace for Iraq and for the region. Our military is performing admirably in difficult circumstances. They have been tasked with calming streets that are wrought with sectarian conflict, with unraveling thousand-year-old webs of Sunni, Kurd, and Shia rivalries, with understanding the mixture of motives behind car bombings, suicide bombings, roadside bombings, and mass executions. They have been told that if they do this and slow the downward spiral of civil war, the Shiite-dominated Government will press for national reconciliation and a more stable, secure future for Iraq. Our troops have done their job. The Iraqi Government has not done its part.”