A bill for the relief of Jaya Gulab Tolani and Hitesh Gulab Tolani.

Mr. President, I know that all of my colleagues have been reading the recent reports of increasing violence in Iraq. What once seemed to be a small insurgency could possibly be developing into a larger revolt. And this rapidly growing and violent opposition to the United States presence in that country is placing American service members at great risk. It is also threatening our goal of securing a stable and democratic Iraq. Taken together, I believe that this situation makes it all the more clear what many of us have been urging all along--that we need to internationalize our efforts in Iraq now. Today, I am submitting a Sense of the Senate resolution urging the President to do just that.

As my colleagues know, there are well over 100,000 United States servicemen and -women currently stationed in Iraq. And while our troops are going through rotations that are scheduled to leave this number somewhere around 100,000, I would point out that the recent upsurge in violence in that country has prompted U.S. Central Command Chief General John Abizaid to ask his military staff to examine options for sending more U.S. troops to Iraq.

Despite claims by some in the Bush administration that this is not a necessity, it is certain that with this increasing instability, the demands on our troops will continue to grow. That could very well mean that at some point we will need to send more troops to Iraq.

This is all coming at a time when arguably, the dangers to our troops have never been greater. Twelve Marines were killed in a single day of hostile action last weekend. Four American contractors were brutally slain and mutilated last week. And the situation appears to be getting worse.

Let me be clear. This is not a statement on the abilities of the United States military. Our troops--and I know there is complete consensus about this--have and continue to perform with the utmost professionalism, patriotism, and heroism. Nobody can dispute that. And this Senator, for one, remains committed to ensuring that they have every tool at their disposal, every resource that they need, to come home safely and as expeditiously as possible. My resolution, first and foremost, reaffirms these facts.

But with more than 600 U.S. service members killed and more than 2,988 wounded since March 2003, the time has come for us to be honest about our needs in Iraq. We need an international security presence in that country. NATO would be the ideal body to provide such an international presence. It has played an important role in efforts to restore and maintain order in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. And plain and simple, the presence of international troops would reduce the risk to U.S. military personnel. My resolution would urge the President to instruct the Secretary of Defense to begin consultations with NATO with this goal in mind.

My resolution would also urge the President to instruct the Secretary of State to begin consultations with the United Nations Security Council concerning a UN Security Council Resolution for Iraq. While NATO can help handle the security concerns in Iraq, we need a UN presence in that country with respect to efforts to build stable and democratic institutions.

After all, let's be honest, we have a serious lack of international credibility for being in Iraq right now. This lack of credibility is impeding our abilities to secure our political goals in that country. It is preventing the international community from rallying behind us in our attempt to build a stable and democratic Iraq--a goal that we all share. And it is preventing us from gaining the legitimacy we need among average Iraqis which is so vital to the success of our efforts.

Some might even argue that with the June 30th deadline approximately 12 weeks away, we are moving backwards in terms of our readiness to hand over control to an interim Transitional Iraqi Government.

This fear was illustrated perfectly by an official from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in an article in today's New York Times. Let me quote from that article, which occurs in the context of allied and Iraqi security forces' loss of control in the southern Iraqi cities of Najaf and Kufa: ``An official in the occupation authority said Wednesday that . . . months of efforts to win over the population with civil projects and promises of jobs have failed with segments of the population.''

That same official was quoted in the article as saying that ``Six months of work is completely gone . . . there is nothing to show for it.'' According to the same article, ``government buildings, police stations, civil defense garrisons, and other police installations built up by Americans had been overrun and stripped bare'' in those cities. I ask unanimous consent that this article be printed in the Record.

This all highlights an important fact--that without getting the legitimacy we need to function in Iraq, we will be lacking the most basic foundations for ensuring the success of our efforts--efforts for which we have already allocated more than $110 billion American taxpayer dollars.

The answer for all of this is simple, and I believe that it has been from the beginning. We must engage NATO and the UN with the goal of their playing significant roles in Iraq. And we must do it now. NATO can help immensely with sharing the security burden. And a UN mandate will grant us the legitimacy we need to function in Iraq. It will also grant our long time allies, with whom we have been at odds over this war, the domestic legitimacy they need to play a part in building Iraq's future.

We now have a choice. We can continue to argue whether these steps should have been taken before the war. Or, we can join together in urging these steps be taken now. Our men and

women in uniform deserve it. The American taxpayer deserves it. The Iraqi people deserve it. And our national security and the security of the world deserve it.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of the following: S. 99, S. 1130, S. 103, S. 848, and S. 541, and that the Senate proceed to their immediate consideration en bloc.

Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that the bills be read three times and passed en bloc, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to these measures be printed in the Record.