[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 137 (Wednesday, October 1, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1948]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS SPECIAL ORDERS ON IRAQ

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                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 1, 2003

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank the distinguished chairman 
of the Congressional Black Caucus for holding these special orders.
  Over 300 Americans have died in Iraq. Over 1200 have been wounded. 
And we're spending a billion a week to finance this quagmire.
  Now, Congress is being asked to approve another $87 billion to fund 
the Administration's war. That brings up the total to $166 billion, and 
there's no end in sight--no end to the deaths, no end to the bills, and 
no end to the war.
  That $87 billion is the latest installment on the President's foreign 
policy doctrine of preemption.
  We went to war under this doctrine: the President told the American 
people, Congress, and the world that we had to go to war because Iraq's 
weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear weapons program, posed 
an imminent danger to us.
  Well, we haven't found the weapons yet, so now the Administration is 
changing the mission: now Iraq isn't about weapons of mass destruction 
or regime change, now it's terrorism.
  The American people want to know how this $166 billion is being 
spent, what our exit strategy is, and just how much we are going to 
have to pay to build Iraqi houses, connect Iraqi electrical grids, and 
construct Iraqi schools.
  It's not that we begrudge the needs of the Iraqi people--it's just 
that we also see dire needs here at home.
  We're not isolationists--it's in our national interest to help create 
stability in Iraq and it's a moral imperative to repair the damage our 
bombs did, but there has to be a vision of how to get us out.
  We must leave an Iraq that is stable and secure, but we must leave.
  And we all need to understand that this war against Iraq is not an 
isolated act but part of the Doctrine of Preemption that could also 
lead us to war against North Korea, Iran, Syria, or almost anyone else.
  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would recognize this war. As he warned 
us, ``In the wasteland of war,'' he said, ``The expenditure of 
resources knows no restraints.''
  Dr. King knew that war could be a bottomless pit, into which this 
great nation could pour all of its resources, all of its young people, 
and never come out safer or stronger.
  We have to stop this. That is our call to arms.
  Because if we don't stop them, this $87 billion bill will be followed 
by more and more installment payments, and those 304 Americans who have 
died in Iraq will be followed by far too many more young men and women.
  Let's find our way out of this wasteland.

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