[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 24 (Wednesday, March 1, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H473-H474]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, it is doubtful that we can even 
accurately count the number of Iraqis who have died today in their 
country. The President vows he will stay the course. We have heard this 
before over and over again, as if saying it repeatedly would alter the 
reality.
  For months the American people have spoken with an ever louder voice 
urging the President to redeploy U.S. soldiers to get them out of 
harm's way. For months, many Members of Congress, especially Mr. Murtha 
of Pennsylvania, have urged the President to redeploy the U.S. soldiers 
to get them out of harm's way.
  Now even U.S. soldiers overwhelming say that the U.S. should be out 
of Iraq this year. In military terms, that is enough time to quickly 
plan and safely reallocate U.S. soldiers. In other words, the men and 
women of the United States Armed Forces, those in the battlefield, are 
saying what this administration refuses to act on.
  The ground the President is standing on has shrunk to the size of a 
postage stamp. His approval ratings have fallen so low they are below 
sea level. Today, not only is Iraq in the throes of relentless civil 
violence, even members of the administration are telling Congress that 
there is danger the violence in Iraq could spill outside the borders 
and inflame the entire Middle East.
  Yet despite the warnings, despite the reality, despite the Iraqi 
leaders urging

[[Page H474]]

the U.S. to stop interfering with efforts to form a new government, the 
President is going to stay the course.
  The same rhetoric spoken after every wave of violence has really worn 
threadbare. It is time to set a course, and we have done that. It is 
time to lead the U.S. out of harm's way because that is what leaders 
do.
  Another U.S. soldier died today in Iraq. The total number of U.S. men 
and women serving this country in Iraq who have died has climbed to 
2,292. They have paid the ultimate sacrifice for Bush's folly. In my 
judgment, the price they paid was too high. These soldiers are heroes. 
That much we know. And that is of comfort to their families and this 
proud and grateful Nation.
  But we owe these heroes more than comfort for their families. Many of 
these soldiers died saving other soldiers. We have to ask ourselves 
whether we are failing as a Nation because we know Iraq is not working, 
and yet we leave the soldiers in harm's way.
  We have to ask ourselves whether we are failing as a Nation because 
we allow our government to act contrary to the wishes of the people. 
This is supposed to be a democracy. This is not about a war time when 
only the Commander in Chief can know everything there is to know, and 
we must place our trust in him or her. This is not the Invasion of 
Normandy.
  The war in Iraq is nothing like that. We know what the President 
knows about the situation. There are no secret intelligence reports 
laying out the real Iraq story. We know it. We see it on television. We 
read about it in the newspapers, and we discuss it online. We are truly 
all in this war. Everyone, except the man who lives at 1600 
Pennsylvania. There is not a shred of evidence or paperwork that he has 
that says repeating the line, ``stay the course,'' is going to benefit 
the U.S. or the Iraqi people.
  Why then are we doing it? It is time for the American people to 
demand that the President account for his actions and the lack of 
actions on the Iraq war. Iraq is reeling from its worst fear, the 
launch of a civil war.
  U.S. soldiers are bunkered in their defensive positions. But why are 
they there at all? Many Iraqi leaders are beginning to blame the U.S. 
occupation for unleashing the evil, as they call it.
  Every day that goes by, the reputation and credibility of our Nation 
bleeds a little more. That is nothing in comparison to the lost lives 
and shattered lives of thousands of U.S. soldiers and their loved ones. 
William Butler Yeats, the Noble Prize laureate who was a Senator in 
Ireland, said in a poem called ``The Center Cannot Hold,'' it is the 
Second Coming. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the best lack all 
conviction while the worst are full of passionate neat intensity.
  When will we learn? When will this government listen to the people? 
The soldiers in battle and the people at home, they know what Iraq is 
and is not. But two people, or maybe only one, in the White House have 
yet to learn it. But until they do, Iraq will be a price for which we 
witness relentless chaos that can be turned loose upon the whole world. 
We cannot stay the course when there is no course. The best thing is to 
come home.
  Mr. President, give us a plan.

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