[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 20, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H4285-H4286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         BRING OUR TROOPS HOME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my disappointment with the 
votes we took last week on Iraq. There were some provisions in the 
amendment that I voted against that I strongly support, including the 
ban on torture and the requirement for sufficient rest time for our 
troops between deployments.
  I helped lead the effort in this House to prohibit the administration 
from establishing permanent military bases in Iraq. I have been 
outspoken on the failure of previous Congresses to hold private 
contractors accountable and to punish waste, fraud and profiteering. 
But last week I could not vote for these provisions because the 
amendment did not include a firm, responsible deadline to bring our 
troops safely home.
  Let me be clear: Any funding bill that does not contain a binding 
deadline to end this war is an open-ended commitment to continue it. 
That's

[[Page H4286]]

why I have and will continue to vote against such legislation.
  It is now 62 months since the invasion of Iraq and 60 months since 
President Bush's ``Mission Accomplished'' pronouncement. It has been 16 
months since the beginning of the troop surge that President Bush and 
his congressional allies believed would give the Iraqis breathing space 
to resolve their internal conflicts and assume responsibility for their 
own security.
  The vast majority of Americans concluded a long time ago that this 
war was a mistake. It has strengthened al Qaeda and Iran. It is time to 
end the war responsibly and bring our Armed Forces safely home.
  The death toll of brave Americans now stands at 4,072, with nearly 
30,000 wounded, many with life-shattering physical and mental and 
emotional scars. More than one in three soldiers and marines returning 
from Iraq later sought help for post-traumatic stress disorder or other 
mental health problems. The toll on our military families is 
tremendous. More than 1.7 million Americans have served at least one 
tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. Four in 10 of these troops have served 
more than one war zone mission.
  Our open-ended commitment in Iraq undermines our ability to meet 
challenges to our national security elsewhere.
  We clearly have much work to do in Afghanistan, where the 9/11 
attacks originated. We must also be concerned about the readiness of 
our Armed Forces in the event that a new threat arises elsewhere in the 
world. And then there is the toll the war continues to take on our 
ability to address our needs here at home.
  More than 5 years into this war, we know that it will cost more than 
$600 billion, but we still don't know what its final price tag will be 
or how much longer we will continue to pay it. We do know that our 
national debt is soaring, that our economy is either teetering on the 
edge or already in recession, and that the price of crude oil is 
approaching $130 per barrel. In my hometown of Portland, unleaded 
gasoline has jumped to nearly $4 a gallon, with heating oil now 
surpassing $4 per gallon.
  And we know that these fuel costs are draining family budgets 
throughout Maine and across America. Is there any question that our 
open-ended presence in Iraq contributes to these soaring costs? Is 
there any doubt that the money we are borrowing to pay for this war, 
largely from the Chinese and the Saudis, will leave our children an 
enormous debt to pay?
  We are spending more than $3,800 on this war every second. In the 
time since I began to speak, we've spent another million dollars. These 
are funds that we could use to fix our ailing health care system, to 
repair our crumbling infrastructure, to invest in education for our 
kids, to implement an energy policy to reduce our dependence on foreign 
oil, fight climate change, create new jobs, and stimulate new 
technologies.
  Mr. Speaker, more than 140,000 courageous and capable American forces 
remain in Iraq. They continue to serve with great ability and 
tremendous courage in the crossfire of a bloody, intractable religious 
civil war waged, in one form or another, for more than a thousand 
years.
  We need much more than a change in mission for fighting the war in 
Iraq. Congress must change policy through a firm, responsible deadline 
to end it. As George Mitchell demonstrated in northern Ireland, only a 
firm deadline will compel the leaders of the warring factions to assume 
responsibility for their own security and their own future. And we need 
a plan to win the peace by engaging Iraq's neighbors to join us to 
create a stable, successful Iraq because that outcome is as vital to 
their long-term interests as it is to ours.
  Enough is enough. Let's close the open-ended commitment President 
Bush and his allies in Congress have given to this war. Let's set a 
firm, responsible deadline and bring our troops safely home.

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