Statement of Rep. Christopher Shays March 14, 2005 The answer is not just numbers. Capabilities matter as much as quantities. Decisions about the strategic roles, doctrines, tactics and command structures of Iraq security forces will have profound implications on their ability to confront a violent insurgency while nurturing a democratic one. But numbers do matter. We need to know how many have been trained, how many will be trained, and how they will be deployed by the Iraqi Ministries of Defense and Interior to secure their nation. The effort faces daunting challenges. To fill the vacuum created by the abrupt dissolution of the entire Army and police force after the fall of the Hussein regime, Iraqi security personnel must learn to fight while they fight. Uneven vetting of recruits and limited off-site training has left local police units undermanned, under-motivated and vulnerable to infiltration by the very insurgents they're meant to fight. Some in the new predominantly Shiite Iraqi government have proposed a re-deBa'athification of security forces, a move which others fear could further destabilize rather than help secure Iraq. But all these efforts should be guided and inspired by individual and collective examples of Iraqi determination to seize a safer future. Mithal a-Alusi is a Sunni and the first Iraqi political official to travel to Israel to address an antiterrorism conference. For his courage, he was removed from his position on the De-Ba'athification Commission and he lost his personal security protection. On February 8th, his two sons were gunned down in Baghdad. When I met him here two weeks ago, all he wanted was to go back to Iraq and help his nation become a democracy. As a recent article on him observed, "When you hear it asked whether Iraqis will fight for their own freedom, ask yourself whether it is possible to fight harder than Mithal al-Alusi." In the January 30th election, his and more than eight million other purple index fingers pointed the way to a peaceful and democratic future for their nation. Today we ask how we can best help them fulfill that destiny. Mr. SHAYS. The Chair at this time recognizes the ranking member, Mr. Kucinich. Mr. KUCINICH. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. To the witnesses, I understand that shortly we're going to have the honor of having our ranking member, Mr. Waxman, here, and I look forward to his presence as well. I want to first begin by thanking the men and women who wear the uniform of this country and who serve in the Armed Forces and who serve valiantly and bravely in Iraq and around the world. I want to thank their families for giving their sons and daughters, their husbands and wives to this Nation for service. Their service is honorable, and no matter what our position happens to be with respect to this administration's policy, we can all agree that the men and women who serve ought to be honored. I want to thank the chairman for holding the hearing, and I want to welcome the witnesses. As the key investigative and oversight committee in Congress, we're the ones who must shine the light of truth on the security situation in Iraq. The truth, however, is elusive. This Congress has been misled time and time again about this war by this administration. This Congress has been told that we needed to strike Iraq preemptively in order to find weapons of mass destruction. We have not found a single WMD. In fact, the administration has given up to not even looking for WMDs anymore. We were also told that the United States would be greeted as liberators, yet 1,500 brave American soldiers have died so far, and the number increases daily, whether it is by suicide attacks or improvised explosive devices. Many Iraqi security forces and innocent civilians have also died needlessly. And there are thousands upon thousands of our soldiers who have been injured, as well as innocent civilians injured as well. We were told that the administration had a plan for the occupation of Iraq and for reconstruction. We were told contracts would be openly bid, and that the process would be transparent; yet the Inspector General for the Coalition Provisional Authority recently reported that the Coalition Provisional Authority could not properly account for a single penny of some $9 billion in funds turned over by the U.S.-led authority to the interim Iraqi government. Congress has spent $5.8 billion already on building Iraqi security forces, and now we're being asked to foot another $82 billion in costs for Iraq, including $5.7 billion to build Iraqi security forces. Is there a plan for spending this money wisely, or is the plan to keep throwing good money after bad? Will this $11.5 billion be properly accounted for as opposed to the $9 billion in funds that have not been properly accounted for? Mr. Chairman, the current course we are on in Iraq is absolutely unacceptable. This administration seems to be blinded by and ignorant to the realities in Iraq. It is determined to see its policies through no matter how many wounded and how many casualties there may be, no matter how foolish and wrong-headed those policies may be. We're told that these security forces need more time and more funds for training and for leaders to emerge to assume chains of command. Mr. Chairman, this administration has had enough time and more than enough funds already. There is nothing more than a money pit that drains funds from our Nation's coffers. The real problem is the administration has refused to admit it has made any mistakes. Violence, particularly that aimed specifically against these Iraqi security forces, has escalated in recent weeks despite the presence of these forces at polling places during the holding of the national elections in January. 125 Iraqi National Guard and police recruits died at a medical clinic recently at the hands of a suicide car bomber. Nearly every day other Iraqi security forces are killed by the improvised explosive devices or by suicide bombers. Insurgents remain in control over numerous areas of the country, and we are sending out security forces who are lightly armed, have only a few weeks or months of training, have limited mobility and continue to incur problems of recruitment and retention. Most of these security forces have never even handled or shot an AK-47. Most are being used in support roles, not in fighting the insurgents who are hardened and hell bent on making sure that our mission there fails. We are sending these security forces into situations against an enemy who, it is well understood, they cannot possibly defeat. How do we honestly expect them to be ready by the end of this year or next? None of these problems are a secret, yet this administration continues to mislead the American people and the Congress, its only solution to ask for more and more money and more time in the hopes the situation will improve, while their stubbornness is costing lives. And more importantly, we also want to see our soldiers return home. We all want to see democracy succeed and flourish in Iraq, but there are lives here at stake, both American and Iraqi, and we still have no exit strategy. And Mr. Chairman, without an exit strategy, I don't see how in the world we can expect the American people to approve spending another dime in Iraq. Without an exit strategy, I don't understand how we can expect the American people to continue to approve of the sacrifice of their sons and daughters and mothers and fathers. What are we supposed to tell our constituents whose loved ones are missing from home, wounded or killed in service to their country? When will our soldiers be coming home? It seems to me these deadlines for completing training and for rebuilding Iraqi security forces are completely artificial. Nobody knows how long the process will take. And we cannot support the Iraqis indefinitely financially or at a cost to our own Nation's military readiness. That is why I believe the United Nations should step in and shoulder the burden for training these security forces. They have the experience, long-term resolve, and the multi-national support to finish the job, and I urge Secretary Rice to work with Secretary General Kofi Annan to find a role for U.N. peacekeepers in Iraq. These are the real questions, the tough questions which need to be asked by the Congress about the long-term stability and security of Iraq. We need real answers before we can agree to new funding requests, we cannot cover our eyes and pretend problems will go away if we just sink more money into them. Mr. Chairman, I hope all of our witnesses are forthcoming and candid in their testimonies. It's in everyone's interest that they speak honestly to the problems in building Iraqi security forces. We want equality troops in place and ready to take over, not just a quantitative figure that looks good on paper. I led the effort in this House in challenging that war. It was a wrong war, and it was wrong to send our troops there, and we need to bring them home. And I hope this hearing is going to be the beginning of that step. Thank you. Mr. SHAYS. I thank the gentleman. [The prepared statement of Hon. Dennis J. Kucinich follows:] Statement of Rep. Dennis Kucinich House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Committee on Government Reform Hearing on "Building Iraqi Security Forces" March 14, 2005 Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and good afternoon to all of the witnesses here today. Thank you for holding this hearing. As the key investigative and oversight committee in Congress, we must shine the light of truth on the security situation in Iraq. The truth, however, is elusive. We have been misled time and time again about this war by this Administration. We were told we needed to strike Iraq preemptively in order to find weapons of mass destruction. We have not found a single WMD. In fact, we've given up, and we're not even looking for WMDs anymore. We were also told we would be greeted as liberators. Yet, 1,500 brave American soldiers have died so far and the number |