[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 36 (Monday, March 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


RELATING TO THE LIBERATION OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE AND THE VALIANT SERVICE 
         OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES AND COALITION FORCES

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. KENDRICK B. MEEK

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 17, 2004

  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this very 
flawed, very inadequate and blatantly political resolution.
  Every Member of this House wants to honor our troops. That view is 
truly non-partisan. Each of us is deeply grateful for the patriotism 
and courage our troops have exhibited in Iraq, and for the sacrifices 
that they and their families are making. But House Republican leaders 
should be ashamed of themselves for playing politics and trying to 
score political points by pushing this partisan resolution through the 
House, and using the brave men and women in our armed forces as cover 
in order to do it.
  This resolution does not even mention the thousands of wounded 
soldiers from this war, many of whom I met at Walter Reed Army Hospital 
in Washington, DC. Their sacrifices will not end when they come home 
and leave the military. For those who lost limbs or suffered other 
serious, debilitating injuries, their sacrifice will be with them for 
the rest of their lives. That is certainly true for the parents, 
brothers and sisters, spouses, children and friends of the 564 
Americans who have lost their lives so far in this Iraq War.
  They clearly deserve our recognition and our gratitude, but they are 
not mentioned in this resolution.
  Republican leaders are so single-minded and so dead-set on justifying 
the President's decision to go to war that they use the opportunity to 
honor our troops as an excuse to explain away the war. And they 
purposely excluded Democrats in the drafting process so that they could 
have it their way, and their way alone. Their failure to reach across 
the aisle and make this resolution bipartisan is wrong and disgraces 
the memory of those who serve, and those who have sacrificed, and those 
who have died.
   As written, this resolution states that the ``United States and the 
world have been made safer by the removal of Saddam Hussein and the 
Baath party from power''. There is certainly not unanimity on that 
point. The Bush administration has tried hard to change the reasons the 
President took this country to war. We were told that Saddam Hussein 
was hand-in-hand with Al Qaeda; that he was constructing weapons of 
mass destruction; and that he had a program to create nuclear weapons. 
We were led to believe that Iraq was arming itself to attack us--and to 
attack us imminently.
  But now little of what they told us appears to be true. It now 
appears that the President's rationale for war in Iraq was 
fundamentally and deeply flawed. Judging from the 27 people killed in a 
car bombing in Baghdad this afternoon or the 200 people killed in 
Madrid only 6 days ago, it appears that the undisputed enemy that all 
Americans recognize, Al Qaeda, is as strong as ever. No weapons of mass 
destruction have been found. The sober warnings from the President 
about an Iraqi nuclear program were exaggerated and based on 
discredited and unverified reports.

  So, while every Member of Congress is glad that Saddam Hussein is no 
longer in power and no longer a menace to the people of Iraq, it is 
certainly not clear that removing Saddam Hussein has made the United 
States any safer, or that it was worth the terrible cost of 564 
American lives, thousands of Americans wounded, and over $150 billion--
so far.
  It seems to me that, if the Republican leadership really wanted to 
salute the troops involved in this year-old war, they would join with 
Democrats to draft a resolution of praise and honor that every Member 
would support. Even more fitting would be an immediate vote on 
legislation to ensure that all of our troops are properly armed and 
outfitted, and that they and their families will be taken care of. The 
President's budget request shortchanges our troops and the generations 
of American soldiers before them.
  And so, Mr. Speaker, I will vote against this resolution. We must 
support our troops with action, not with political rhetoric.

                          ____________________