[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 7, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H2270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with an 
apology. Last week, I was in the grocery store in Jacksonville, 
Florida. A veteran working part time told me about a friend who was at 
Walter Reed, and he had pictures showing the problems that were 
occurring there. He walked me to the car and said that there was no way 
he would ever vote again for a Republican after seeing what the 
pictures showed.
  I couldn't believe what he was describing to me of a military 
facility. And I told him, ``You can't believe everything that you see 
on the Internet.'' The next day, the very next day, the story was in 
the Washington Post. I am going back to that grocery store to 
personally apologize to that veteran. The fact that an active duty 
soldier was treated this way is inconceivable.
  I did not vote for this war. The military is doing the job they were 
sent to do. There was a flaw in the mission from the beginning, and the 
flaw lies with us. American soldiers have performed admirably under 
trying conditions, conditions they were not trained for and conditions 
they should not be in. We won the war but lost the occupation. Our 
soldiers deserve better when they get back.
  We can send 484 tons of money, $12 billion, to Iraq for who knows 
what, but when it comes to the well-being of those soldiers, there is 
no money. According to the VA, it will cost $1.7 billion to include all 
veterans in the VA health care system.
  What are the priorities of this administration? There are all kinds 
of justifications, all kinds of sanctimony, frightening the American 
people into supporting a $600 billion war in Iraq. We have a $3 
trillion budget, and we are sending nearly $1 trillion to a country of 
28 million people.
  We are building an embassy in Baghdad of 104 acres. This is six times 
larger than the United Nations compound in New York and two-thirds the 
acreage of Washington's National Mall. The embassy compound, 21 
buildings on 104 acres, is the size of Vatican City and will be the 
largest in the world. It will employ over 5,500 people. The embassy 
will cost over $1 billion. This is the priority of this Bush 
administration.
  My colleagues, this war needs to come to an end. The American people 
want the troops home. This was the message sent loud and clear to the 
Bush administration during the November elections. Yet for some reason, 
they just don't get the message. Nearly 70 percent of the American 
people want us out of Iraq, and 100 percent deplore the treatment the 
administration is giving the veterans at the time of their most urgent 
need.
  I will go back to Jacksonville and apologize to this veteran. I will 
be able to look him in the eye and say that this will not stand. We 
will make sure our soldiers come back to the best care this great 
Nation can provide.
  I am reminded, in closing, of the words of the first President of the 
United States, George Washington, whose words are worth repeating at 
this time:
  ``The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in 
any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to 
how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and 
appreciated by their country.''

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