TANNER SPEAKS ON LACK OF IRAQI PROGRESS

WASHINGTON – Congressman John Tanner said on the floor of the House of Representatives Thursday that it is time for the Iraqi people and their government leaders to take control of their own country and for U.S. troops to begin redeploying to security roles on the perimeter instead of policing Baghdad streets, where sectarian violence continues to grow.

Tanner supported The Responsible Redeployment Act of 2007, which passed the House 223-201. The same day, the Bush Administration released an interim report indicating that the Iraqi government has failed to meet key political benchmarks endorsed by President Bush in January.

Following are Tanner’s remarks to the House of Representatives:

“This interim report that shows an appalling lack of progress on the political front in Iraq leads me to this conclusion. I was on active duty for four years during Vietnam, and I went down to the Vietnam wall the other night – 50,000 dead American names down there. We now have 3,500-plus dead American names on the Iraq wall. And what is true then to me is true now.

“General Petraeus himself said it not long ago, when he said that military action is necessary, but ‘any student of history recognizes there is no military solution to Iraq. Military action may be necessary, but it is not sufficient. There needs to be a political aspect.’

“The political aspect as reported in this interim report shows this: Of the 275 members of the Iraqi parliament, over 1/3 are presently boycotting the meetings. Over 1/3 of the ministers are boycotting the meetings. Two years after the Iraqi elections, the government there is dysfunctional.

“Now let's listen to General Petraeus’ words. We have to have a ‘political aspect.’ This present strategy – whether the surge works or not is beside the point – these people are unwilling or unable to come together after two years of a government to work together to build any kind of civil society that we can support.

“I think that it is now time with this interim report and the lack of political progress there to send a message. Nobody's talking about precipitous withdrawal. What we are talking about is this Congress engaging with this Administration to support the troops and help them from this morass.”

Tanner, a veteran of the U.S. Navy and the Tennessee Army National Guard, represents Tennessee’s 8^th Congressional district in west and middle Tennessee. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and as chairman of the U.S. delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the legislative branch of NATO.

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Contact: Randy Ford, 202.225.4714