[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 106 (Thursday, September 9, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H6985]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THOSE WHO HAVE BORNE THE BATTLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hastings of Washington). Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, 2 days ago the United States military 
announced that 1,000 military personnel have been killed in Iraq. For 
every American this is a time to contemplate the totality of the 
sacrifice of these brave Americans.
  I recently returned from my second visit to our forces in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. I was awed by the courage, determination, and dedication 
of our troops who are fighting a brutal enemy thousands of miles from 
home.
  Our soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen, and coast guard are doing 
their job magnificently; but as we continue to battle a stubborn and 
pernicious insurgency in Iraq, Congress must take stock of the needs of 
our troops in battle and the challenges they will face when they come 
home.
  We owe it to the more than 1,000 Americans who have died in Iraq and 
to their comrades serving there still to ensure that we put Iraq on the 
road to democracy and that we assist the Iraqi Government in building 
the security forces, army and police, that it needs to defend itself.
  Since I was first in Iraq, the political transition has made 
important strides, but the security situation has worsened 
considerably; and our troops are shouldering an incredible load for the 
rest of us.
  A year ago, the insurgency appeared confined to a few hundred 
Baathists, Saddam Fedeyeen, a small contingent of foreign fighters, and 
criminals released by Hussein before the war. Regrettably, the 
insurgency has spread, fueled by a much more substantial influx of 
foreign fighters and made more complex by Shiite uprisings in what had 
been more tranquil parts of the country.
  The insurgents have embraced the tactics of foreign fighters. Suicide 
bombings and kidnappings have become much more sophisticated. 
Improvised explosive devices, IEDs, which take a daily toll on our 
troops, used to be easily visible to American personnel as they drove 
through the country. Now, they are buried, with only a slender wire of 
an antenna protruding above the ground and detonated remotely. Clearly 
our forces face a determined foe.
  There is no question that the burden of this war has fallen 
exclusively on the shoulders of our men and women in uniform. While the 
military may always bear a disproportionate share of the burden in 
wartime, it is especially acute now. Even as our Guard and Reserve are 
constantly being called up and our active duty forces are stretched 
thin, the general population has been asked to make no sacrifice for a 
war effort that we are financing through debt.
  Our troops are paying doubly for this war, first on the battlefield 
and then in the form of crushing deficits that have fundamentally 
weakened our economy. Some only barely out of their teens, our troops 
will be paying for this war for the rest of their lives, even if they 
return home uninjured. They will pay for it in the form of higher 
mortgages on their first home, on credit card debt, and in taxes to 
repay the national debt.
  Even as we speak, the families of our troops are struggling, losing 
jobs, businesses and piling up debt. I met a young Marine from my 
district in Pasadena who had been serving in Iraq since February and 
was due to return in the fall, return home. He had just learned that 
his wife had been called up and that she will be deployed to Iraq in 
the fall. Their planes may literally pass each other in the night.
  We must not forget the nearly 7,000 Americans who have been wounded, 
more than 1,000 in the last month alone. Many of these wounds are 
grievous and many others might have been prevented had our troops been 
better equipped from the start of the war. Our troops now have the body 
armor they need and are driving armored Humvees, but they should never 
have gone into battle without these life-saving protections.
  In an American military hospital in Baghdad, I spoke with several 
Marines hit with IEDs. Two Marines, who lay side by side in adjoining 
hospital beds, were riding in the same armored Humvee when they were 
struck. While these two Marines had shrapnel embedded in their legs and 
faces, a third Marine in the same Humvee was lucky and walked away 
unharmed. A fourth Marine they told me had not been so lucky. He died 
on the operating table the night before.
  These young men and women and nearly 7,000 other wounded are 
returning to a Congress that seems to have forgotten Abraham Lincoln's 
admonition ``to care for him who has borne the battle.'' We provide 
insufficient medical care for our veterans, and VA centers around the 
country are closing their doors, even as they are needed more than 
ever.
  In our towns, cities and counties, thousands of individual Americans 
have pitched in to help our returning soldiers, but our Federal 
Government has lagged far behind. Until recently, our wounded were 
charged for the food they ate while recovering at Walter Reed Army 
Hospital.
  I realize that time is short in this Congress, but I hope when we 
consider the VA-HUD appropriations bill later this month and in our 
work on defense and veterans issues in the 109th Congress that we 
consider the extraordinary price that we as a Nation have asked of the 
men and women of our Armed Forces and that we match our words with 
deeds.

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