Progress Report on Iraq
This week, General David Petraeus, commander of the Multi National Force in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, were in Washington, D.C. to provide Congress with an update on the status of Operation Iraqi Freedom. General Petraeus is an upstanding individual and the ideal leader for our troops in Iraq. I trust our generals on the ground in Iraq and believe that it is important to allow military leaders to make military decisions. He has reported to us that violence in Iraq is decreasing on many levels – sectarian violence is down, attacks with Improvised Explosive Devices are down and the number of attacks in the Al Anbar province have decreased dramatically. Perhaps most notably, in the past eight months, coalition forces have killed or captured 2,500 al-Qaeda fighters and nearly 100 key al-Qaeda leaders. Al-Qaeda is on the run in Iraq, and the Iraqi people are rejecting them. I continue to call on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step up to the plate and for Iraqi leaders to make the political sacrifices necessary to create a peaceful and secure society. As General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker stated, the consequences of our failure in Iraq are momentous – for Iraq, for the region, and for the world. We cannot abandon Iraq to the dangerous regimes of Iran and Syria or to the Islamic terrorist group, al-Qaeda.

In addition, I am extremely proud of the soldiers in Oklahoma’s 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team who will be deployed to Iraq sometime next year, and want the best leadership for them in place. I will continue to monitor the progress of their pending deployment and I thank them for the sacrifices that they, and their families, make on a daily basis to protect our nation’s security. Oklahoma stands firmly behind our courageous soldiers.

Helping Our Nation’s Teens Drive Safely
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for adolescents and young adults in the United States. Recently, the House of Representatives passed, with my support, H. Con. Res 165. This resolution, which I co-sponsored, supports the goals of National Teen Driver Safety Week. Back to school time and the fall season brings more teenage drivers on the road, going to and from school and to other activities. In 2005 alone, 1,553 crash fatalities involving a teen driver occurred in the fall. The fatality rate for drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 years old is four times higher than the fatality rate for 25 – 69 year olds. Many of these deaths are preventable through the use of seatbelts, increased awareness about the safe use of cell phones and other electronics while driving and by teen drivers avoiding driving at night. National Teen Driver Safety Week, October 15th though the 20th, will help increase the awareness of these important driving issues among teenagers and their parents in communities throughout the United States.