December 7, 2006
12:02 PM

Reyes responds to Iraq Study Group report

Congressman Reyes' remarks from yesterday regarding the release of the Iraq Study Group report:

I was briefed this morning by the Iraq Study Group on the results of its study, and want to thank Congressman Hamilton, Secretary Baker, and the other members of the Commission for their contributions to the discussion of this critical issue. Their work and bipartisan spirit is an example of what we should all seek to emulate, and I am hopeful this report will serve as the basis of an eventual bipartisan consensus on Iraq.

This report confirms what most have known for the past several years - staying the course in Iraq is not a viable option. We need a new approach, and this report provides us some possible options that deserve serious consideration." Those options include:

*                    launching a new diplomatic offensive to build an international consensus for stability in Iraq, including engaging with Iran and Syria;

*                    transitioning U.S. combat forces out of from Iraq by 2008 while embedding remaining forces in Iraqi units as advisors; and

*                    building the capability of the Iraqi Army by increasing the number of U.S. advisors with Iraqi units and providing them with better equipment.

The report's conclusions about the state of our intelligence capabilities in Iraq are troubling. 

The report states that '[t]he Department of Defense and the intelligence community have not invested sufficient people and resources to understanding the political and military threat to the American men and women in the armed forces.'

The report also states that there has been a significant under-reporting of the violence in Iraq, and asserts that '[g]ood policy is difficult to make when information is systematically collected in a way that minimizes its discrepancy with policy goals.'

One of my first actions when I assume the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee in January will be to convene a series of comprehensive hearings examining the state of intelligence support to our troops deployed in Iraq.

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