[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 21145-21146]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      QUESTIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor with a heavy heart 
today. The wards are full at Walter Reed Army Hospital and Bethesda 
Naval Hospital, full of young men and women who were sent by their 
country to defend their country, whose minds have to have the question 
today, why was I sent there?
  The President of the United States, Mr. Speaker, and the Prime 
Minister of Great Britain have lost the confidence of their own people. 
They misled us over and over and over again. They

[[Page 21146]]

must come clean and tell the American people the truth. This is so 
reminiscent of what I went through during the Vietnam years that it is 
eerie. A government that says, well, things are better today, things 
are better today, and another boy or another girl gets killed or is 
sent back to Walter Reed or Bethesda maimed.
  The President has got to come forward and tell us the truth about 
what it is going to cost, where we are going to get the people. They 
will not talk about a draft, but they have kept those reservists and 
those National Guard people over there for a year. Those people 
volunteered to support their country when it needed them.
  How long are you going to keep them there, Mr. President?

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