[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 22151-22152]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               LETTERS FROM CONSTITUENTS CONCERNING IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kline). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, 165 years ago the U.S. House of 
Representatives passed a rule to ban discussion, debate, printing of 
any information or discussion of the issue of slavery. As a result, 
former President John Quincy Adams, who was elected to the House of 
Representatives after he was President, came to the House floor night 
after night, week after week, hoping to change the minds of people and 
debate the issue of slavery.
  Adams, one of the Nation's leading abolitionists, one of the Nation's 
strongest believers in giant social justice, as a result, because he 
was prohibited from talking about slavery, came to the floor and read 
letters that he received from constituents in Massachusetts and 
constituents around the country. He believed that Congress should 
discuss slavery and debate slavery, so he allowed citizens to speak 
through him as the microphone, citizens through using these letters to 
speak directly to Congress, directly to the American people.
  In a similar way, many in this Congress are unhappy that we are 
failing to investigate what our role in Iraq was. My friend from Texas 
(Mr. Paul), Republican from Texas, has joined with many of us in 
questioning and asking for an independent commission to investigate the 
Bush administration's distortion of evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass 
destruction program, saying that we need to know more in order to deal 
with the problems at hand more,

[[Page 22152]]

and as a result, I would like to read letters from petitioners from 
Ohio, from my District most of them, from all of Ohio, received from 
Ohio literally thousands of letters questioning, asking that Congress 
investigate, questioning what we are actually doing in Iraq.
  From Jay from Richfield, Ohio, While listening to the speech of the 
President regarding Iraq last Sunday, I was struck by the fact he is 
asking for $87 billion for Iraqi reconstruction. What is magic about 
$87 billion, Jay writes. If we assume there are 290 million men, women 
and children in the U.S., that means that every man, woman and child 
will be contributing $300 to the reconstruction of a country we will 
never visit and whose welfare would never have affected us but for the 
lies of our President.
  When the President sold America his enormously wasteful tax cut a few 
years back, his cornerstone was $300 for every family. He was full of 
stories regarding what a family could do with an extra $300. Jay of 
Richfield, Ohio, writes.
  Sue of Elyria, Ohio, writes, Rather than admitting the shortcomings 
of his failed policy and plotting a course to get us out of Iraq, 
President Bush used the Sunday speech to the Nation to repeat his lies 
in the hopes that people will believe them if they are said often 
enough. There was no mention of weapons of mass destruction. Bush 
continued to equate Iraq with al Qaeda terrorists even though there is 
no factual basis for the charge. Then he asked us for another $87 
billion to bail him out, and I am sure this is only the beginning. 
President Bush will be back asking for more.
  How much is $87 billion, Sue writes. For that amount of money, 
America could solve the school budget crisis in every one of our 
communities and provide health insurance for every uninsured American 
child for 15 years, provide food for all six million of the children 
who die from hunger around the world for the next 7 years. Sue from 
Elyria, Ohio.
  Ted from Lorraine, Ohio, where I live, asked about the $87 billion 
more for the invasion of Iraq. He writes, What happened to the $69 
billion he spent already? Was it all given to Halliburton, the ``no 
bid'' contractor and friend of the President's? Why does not Congress 
write into the law giving him money that no contracts be let without 
fair and open bidding? His concern for the people of Iraq is 
heartwarming, but what of us, Americans who pay him and are suffering 
from a terrible loss of jobs and income? What of our schools and our 
roads and our bridges and constitutional rights under the Bill of 
Rights? Not a word from the President on that.
  Jack from North Royalton, Ohio, writes, I believe that we, the 
American public, were manipulated by misleading statements by President 
Bush in order to gain support for a war in Iraq. This war is costing 
the American people billions of dollars. More importantly, it is 
costing the lives of American military personnel. This war has cost 
America the friendship and respect of law-abiding Nations. This is a 
sad period for America and for Americans. The Bush administration 
should be held accountable. President Clinton's lies were about a 
personal sexual matter. President Bush's lies are about an 
international issue.
  Matt from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, writes, The costly war, which has not 
ended, has cost thousands of civilian lives and hundreds of American 
military lives. It has not improved national security. It has weakened 
it. It was evident, Matt writes, as the administration danced around 
looking for reasons to attack Iraqi men, women and children that there 
were conflicts of interest between members of the administration and 
the possible reasons for going to war.
  These are five or six of the literally thousands of letters, hundreds 
of thousands around the Nation that we are receiving questioning what 
we are doing in Iraq, wanting a plan on how we are going to get out.

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