[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24260-24261]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LETTERS FROM CONSTITUENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I just got the good news that in the 
first inning the Cubs versus Marlins, that the Cubs are three to 
nothing, scored three runs. So Chicago fans are very, very happy after 
waiting since 1908 to win a World Series. We think this is the year, 
and it would be great if it were the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red 
Sox.
  But I am here for another purpose this evening, and that is, I wanted 
to read some of the letters that have come from constituents of mine 
regarding the war in Iraq, the ongoing war in Iraq, as has the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) and others.
  The letters and e-mails that have been largely generated by 
moveon.org, that has an online petition asking people, and hundreds of 
thousands have responded to sign on to their online petition, that says 
that Congress must withhold the $87 billion requested by President Bush 
until he dismisses the team responsible for the quagmire in Iraq, 
starting with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and ends the U.S. occupation 
of Iraq by transferring authority for rebuilding to the United Nations.
  I know that the writers of these letters did not mean just a kind of 
shuffling of the players, that is, to move Condoleezza Rice up one and 
Donald Rumsfeld down one, but rather, that the team that has gotten us 
into this situation in which day after day Americans wake up to news of 
more of our troops being killed and still no plan. These are the 
sentiments that are expressed in these letters from my constituents.
  David from Chicago says, ``Do not authorize the spending of any 
additional American citizens' money on this madness until the people in 
charge make a drastic personnel change, draft a complete and detailed 
game plan directly involving the United Nations, and apologies made to 
all peoples and nations caught up in this disgraceful and bloody 
mess!''
  Dorothy from Evanston says, ``Please zip the open purse closed before 
our billions and billions of dollars go into the quagmire which is 
Iraq, largely because of the policies of Secretary Rumsfeld, and 
President Bush's espousal of same. Secretary Rumsfeld ought to be 
removed from office as quickly as possible, and we should ask the 
United Nations to join us as full partners, in authority as in other 
ways, in trying to normalize Iraq. Thank you very much.''
  Mary from Chicago says, ``I am appalled at the amount of money this 
administration paid to companies that have such close ties to Bush and 
his friends. As this atrocity drags out, it is clear that their agenda 
has always been to get their hands on Iraqi oil and they don't mind 
sacrificing our servicemen and -women to do it. It is an insult to 
those men and women, to the American people, and to the world to give 
this administration the money they have the audacity to demand. If you 
give it to them, why not make the check directly payable to Halliburton 
care of Dick Cheney? Please do not give your stamp of approval by 
voting to give this money, especially before all of the 'players' in 
this disaster are held accountable for their lies and deception.''
  David from Chicago says, ``The people of Iraq deserve our continued 
commitment to helping them redevelop their country. However, we must 
recognize that we can't do it alone and that the United Nations must be 
legitimately engaged in leading us out of Iraq. Secretary Rumsfeld and 
his team are clearly unwilling and/or incapable of taking this course 
and therefore are unfit to continue in their current role.''
  Another David from Chicago says, ``I hear story after story of 
parents of our men and women serving in Iraq sending regular care 
packages with things like sunscreen because their children are not 
being provided these items by the military. It is clear that the money 
being sent is not being targeted to those in the service and apparently 
not

[[Page 24261]]

to the Iraqi people who still lack power, food, water and medical 
facilities. It does appear that Halliburton is profiting quite nicely 
from its no-bid contract.''
  Catherine from Chicago, ``I have already voiced my opinion on the 
issue of the $87 billion in aid to Iraq in phone calls to my 
representatives in Congress. This is an outrageous, egregious use of 
American and my tax dollars. I support appropriate aid. This is a 
completely inappropriate boondoggle turning into a disaster!''
  Keith from Chicago says, ``Please do not fund another cent for the 
occupation of Iraq. It is immoral to expect future generations to pay 
for a war that does virtually nothing to make Americans or other 
peoples safe from terrorism.''
  Jonathan says, who is from Chicago, ``Don't reward failure! The war 
in Iraq was won handily, but the Defense Department's hamfisted 
attempts to run things in Iraq, over the objections of the more 
experienced State Department, has been dismal and embarrassing. By all 
means, fund the continue rebuilding efforts in Iraq, but not while the 
architects of the current mess are still choosing how to spend the 
money.''

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