[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 111 (Thursday, July 24, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H7458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    AMERICANS NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the death toll in Iraq of the 
United States military has now reached and will exceed the number of 
deaths in the Persian Gulf War. I stand again to acknowledge and 
respect the brave young men and women who stand for justice and freedom 
and fight for our beliefs in the war in Iraq. But as Ambassador Bremer 
has made his rounds in Washington, there is still a missing element: a 
lack of a plan.
  It is now time for the administration to announce a collaborative and 
understandable plan for Iraq, for the aftermath of Iraq; a similar plan 
to the Marshall concept that brings together all of our allies, not 
whispering and suggesting that these allies are with us, but a 
pronounced plan where we know who are the ones that are sending troops 
and paying for the costs of those troops.
  What is the humanitarian aid? What are the humanitarian groups that 
are there on the ground helping to rebuild Iraq?
  And, yes, the American people must know the truth: An independent 
commission on the understanding or the question of intelligence and the 
paper trail that caused this administration to pronounce to the 
American public that we are about to be under imminent attack and that 
was the reason for the unilateral preemptive attack against Iraq.
  All we need is the truth. All we need is facts. All we need is a 
collective, collaborative plan in order to ensure that there is a good 
exit strategy for Iraq and that the American people know that we are 
not going to be there 1 year, we are not going to be there 6 months, we 
may be there 4 or 5 years, and there may be continued loss of life.
  The American people need to know the truth.

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