[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 138 (Thursday, October 2, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H9188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     QUESTIONS ABOUT THE IRAQI WAR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, about 160 years ago, Congressman 
and former President John Quincy Adams came to the House floor night 
after night, week after week to read letters from constituents, most of 
them women who did not have the right to vote in those days. He was 
protesting the decision by the conservative leadership of the House of 
Representatives, a decision which banned the discussion and debate of 
slavery on the House floor in those days. Because they had banned the 
discussion of slavery, Congressman John Quincy Adams thought he should 
share letters from his constituents with Members of the House, with the 
American people.
  Similarly, because Congress has not debated so many of the issues 
surrounding Iraq, the question of weapons of mass destruction, the 
question of some of the things that the administration said that they 
might have misled the people of the United States, discussions about 
how the $87 billion is going to be spent that the President has asked 
for, discussions of the hundreds of millions of dollars every week that 
we are now spending in Iraq, where there is no accountability for the 
private, unbid contracts, many of which are going to the President's 
friends, several of those contracts to the tune of hundreds of millions 
of dollars going to a company called Halliburton, unbid contracts, 
hundreds of millions of dollars every month. Halliburton is a company 
that is paying the Vice President of the United States $13,000 every 
month, a company where he was CEO.
  Madam Speaker, I am going to read some of these letters, as John 
Quincy Adams did 160 years ago, allowing people in my district to speak 
about these issues that conservative House leadership will not let us 
talk about.
  Madam Speaker, from Greg from Brunswick, Ohio said, ``The U.S. 
occupation of Iraq now costs $1 billion a week, as much as the Federal 
Government spends on after school programs for the entire year. Those 
are just military costs, not including any money for rebuilding Iraq. 
No weapons of mass destruction have been found.'' Greg writes, ``Nor 
have we seen any evidence of an active weapons development program, and 
there is no exit strategy. The administration has yet to present a 
realistic plan for how the occupation of Iraq will end.''
  Lucy of Copley, Ohio, writes, ``There is more than one issue that 
must be addressed. I am very concerned that much of the money will be 
turned over to President Bush's business cronies for lucrative private 
contracts.'' She is talking about Halliburton and literally the 
hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts they have gotten, $13,000 
every month that goes to the Vice President of the United States from 
that company.
  ``I have no absolutely no doubt that this will happen unless Congress 
puts some constraints on the administration. Please give a great deal 
of thought into all of the issues before handing Mr. Bush everything he 
wants, including that blank check.''
  Kenneth of Richfield, Ohio, writes, ``I believe the President and his 
senior administration officials have misled the American people to 
pursue an agenda which they do not discuss in the election campaign and 
which is dangerous to world peace.''
  Jerlene of North Royalton, Ohio, writes, ``President Bush seems to 
have had no real plan for what the United States would do in Iraq once 
we took over that country. Giving him $87 billion is not going to get a 
feasible plan on the table any faster.'' She talks about how we are 
paying a billion dollars a week now in Iraq, much of that going to 
unbid contracts, much of that money unaccounted for, yet, already 
having spent $70 billion the President is asking for $87 billion more. 
She cautions us to exercise caution about that money that the President 
is asking this Congress for.
  She also mentions that this money is going to be borrowed from our 
children and grandchildren because it means more national debt to the 
United States.
  Matthew of Akron, Ohio, writes, ``Too much of taxpayers' money has 
been squandered on this war already. It is time to hold George Bush 
accountable. By granting him this request, the American people, through 
Congress, are doing him a huge favor, and I might add, doing the 
American people something much less than a big favor.''
  All of these letters say, we want to have questions answered. We want 
the safety of our troops assured. We want to make sure that our troops 
are supplied better than they have been as these private contractors 
have squandered billions of taxpayer dollars. We want accountability. 
We want a plan of reconstruction the American people and the Congress 
can understand. And we not only want that accountability, we want an 
exit strategy on how, in fact, when this is going to end, and how this 
is going to be done.
  Madam Speaker, I will continue, as I have since July, to share 
letters from constituents on issues this Congress will not debate on 
answering these questions that the American people have of their 
elected officials.

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