Failure Is Not an Option in Iraq
Congressman
Tom Cole
Tom Cole
December 05, 2005
The President last week laid out a strategy for victory in Iraq by reiterating our accomplishments, reemphasizing our commitment and defining success in the short and long term. There has been a lot of talk in the news and in Congress lately about precipitously withdrawing our troops from Iraq, but the President emphasized the opposite. Just as the President said, and the U.S. House recently affirmed with an overwhelming bi-partisan vote, we must stay the course. I have visited Iraq five times since I was elected in 2003, and I have seen the progress our troops are making. They have come a long way, but there is still work still to do. The mission in Iraq is vitally important and failure is not an option.
The document the President unveiled, "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq," is an unclassified version of the principles that have been guiding our progress in Iraq. It shows tangible accomplishments, realistic goals and the reasons why we have to be successful. I agree with him that victory in Iraq will help us win the war on terror, is the morally right thing to do and will make America safer, stronger and more secure in the future.
The men and women of the United States Armed fighting in Iraq are serving with bravery and dedication, and they deserve the full support of the American people. Calls for an early withdrawal of the United States and coalition forces are counterproductive to our security aims and the hopes of the Iraqi people. The United States will pursue a transfer of responsibility for Iraqi security to Iraqi forces only when the time is right. We should withdraw from Iraq only when U.S. national security and foreign policy goals relating to a free and stable Iraq have been or are about to be achieved.
Iraqi troops are taking on more and more of the fight for their nation. There are now over 200,000 trained and equipped Iraqi security forces. Over 125 Iraqi police and army combat battalions are fighting in counterinsurgency operations alongside Coalition forces, providing additional language skills, cultural awareness, and manpower to Coalition operations.
These Iraqi forces are gaining in experience and battlefield capability. For example, more than 36 battalions are capable of leading operations and 92 percent of checkpoint operations in north-central Iraq were either Iraqi-led or Iraqi-only.
We all wish progress were faster, but as Prime Minister Ibrahim Ja'afari noted, "You can't fix in six months what it took 35 years to destroy." The important thing is that there is discernible progress. Under Saddam, there was no freedom of speech or the press. Today, there are 44 commercial television stations, 72 commercial radio stations, and over 100 independent newspapers. Internet subscribers have risen from 5,000 before the war to 196,000 in September. The biggest indicator of progress was when almost 10 million Iraqis from all areas of the country defied terrorist threats to vote in the constitutional referendum. I am confident we will again see large numbers of voters in the December elections.
Establishing a free and democratic Iraq is critical to winning the war on terror. We are safer today because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. And now we must defeat the terrorists who want to take over Iraq as an operating base from which to attack other peaceful countries. We are winning - because our men and women in uniform are defeating the terrorists, and the Iraqi people and Iraqi troops are taking control of their own future and building a permanent democracy in Iraq -- and we will stay the course.
The document the President unveiled, "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq," is an unclassified version of the principles that have been guiding our progress in Iraq. It shows tangible accomplishments, realistic goals and the reasons why we have to be successful. I agree with him that victory in Iraq will help us win the war on terror, is the morally right thing to do and will make America safer, stronger and more secure in the future.
The men and women of the United States Armed fighting in Iraq are serving with bravery and dedication, and they deserve the full support of the American people. Calls for an early withdrawal of the United States and coalition forces are counterproductive to our security aims and the hopes of the Iraqi people. The United States will pursue a transfer of responsibility for Iraqi security to Iraqi forces only when the time is right. We should withdraw from Iraq only when U.S. national security and foreign policy goals relating to a free and stable Iraq have been or are about to be achieved.
Iraqi troops are taking on more and more of the fight for their nation. There are now over 200,000 trained and equipped Iraqi security forces. Over 125 Iraqi police and army combat battalions are fighting in counterinsurgency operations alongside Coalition forces, providing additional language skills, cultural awareness, and manpower to Coalition operations.
These Iraqi forces are gaining in experience and battlefield capability. For example, more than 36 battalions are capable of leading operations and 92 percent of checkpoint operations in north-central Iraq were either Iraqi-led or Iraqi-only.
We all wish progress were faster, but as Prime Minister Ibrahim Ja'afari noted, "You can't fix in six months what it took 35 years to destroy." The important thing is that there is discernible progress. Under Saddam, there was no freedom of speech or the press. Today, there are 44 commercial television stations, 72 commercial radio stations, and over 100 independent newspapers. Internet subscribers have risen from 5,000 before the war to 196,000 in September. The biggest indicator of progress was when almost 10 million Iraqis from all areas of the country defied terrorist threats to vote in the constitutional referendum. I am confident we will again see large numbers of voters in the December elections.
Establishing a free and democratic Iraq is critical to winning the war on terror. We are safer today because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. And now we must defeat the terrorists who want to take over Iraq as an operating base from which to attack other peaceful countries. We are winning - because our men and women in uniform are defeating the terrorists, and the Iraqi people and Iraqi troops are taking control of their own future and building a permanent democracy in Iraq -- and we will stay the course.
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