[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17130]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              BRING IT ON

  (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice 
concern over the disregard President Bush has shown to our brave 
servicemembers and their families. Our troops are dying in Iraq at a 
rate of one per day. The reason? This administration failed to 
adequately plan for postwar peacekeeping and civil reconstruction in 
Iraq. As a consequence, our troops are overstretched, morale is low, 
and the situation within Iraq is getting worse by the day.
  This administration must, it must readdress the situation and give 
our troops the peacekeeping training that they need; and, in addition, 
efforts to reach out to the international community for assistance must 
be enhanced. In short, we should do everything in our power to quell 
the violence as quickly as possible.
  But instead, just last weekend, President Bush taunted insurgents in 
Iraq by boasting, ``Bring 'em on.'' This is an insult not only to the 
military families who have lost a loved one in Iraq, but to those who 
live under the constant fear that their loved ones might not come home.

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