Chris Smith: “every American wants our soldiers, especially those who have loved ones deployed in Iraq, home as quickly as humanly…”

“every American wants our soldiers, especially those who have loved ones deployed in Iraq, home as quickly as humanly possible. But I would submit to my colleagues that that must be at a time that ensures that the baton of security is passed to a militarily capable, free, and democratic Iraq. Let me point out to my colleagues that progress is being made in that regard. There are currently more than 171,000 trained and equipped Iraqi security forces, including 76,000 soldiers, 63,400 police and highway patrolmen, and 33,787 Ministry of Interior forces. So the previous speaker, I do not know where she is getting her numbers, but they certainly are not correct. Iraqi security forces are now capable of planning and executing operations at the battalion level and higher, and there are a number of instances where they have performed superbly. One of the previous speakers, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey), mentioned that we need to be providing money for rehab. We have provided $19.1 billion to the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund. That is a significant commitment. You cannot do reconstruction without security. Finally, I respectfully submit that any public announcement concerning specific timetables or a date certain for withdrawal of our Armed Forces is likely to result in significantly advantaging the terrorists in a way that will put more lives, more American lives, more Iraqi lives, at risk, and the mission itself will be put at risk.…”