[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16014-16015]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           THE RAVAGES OF WAR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, today I speak about the 
ravages of war. I also say to my colleagues that there is no claim of 
being unpatriotic when you desire to speak of peace. The ravages of war 
can generate much devastation, not only in our domestic society, but 
also internationally.
  I rise today, first of all, to pay tribute to a young man who lived 
in my community who was buried today, a young officer in the United 
States military, enlisted personnel, young and bright and committed to 
serving his country. In actuality, he died serving his country.

                              {time}  1545

  Mr. Speaker, it was not by the ordinary manner in which you might 
have thought he may have lost his life, he did not suffer a wound, but 
he was a casualty of war.
  For he was sent into Iraq already ailing, but because of the need for 
the recruiting numbers and the necessity of meeting quotas, he was sent 
to Iraq. And he served ably.
  But he was carried out on a stretcher, because, unfortunately, he 
suffered liver failure. No matter how our young men and women, enlisted 
personnel, Reservists and National Guard lose their life in the line of 
battle, we owe them a great debt of gratitude. And so to his mother 
today as she buried her son, I offered to her my deepest sympathy.
  Unfortunately, things do not work a lot of times when we think of the 
way our government should, and that is why I account or say that this 
is part of the ravages of war. The hospital system failed Nathaniel 
Parker, from the hospital system, the military system, the veterans 
system failed him, maybe because they had a billion dollar shortfall.
  But when he went to the hospital to receive treatment, he was turned 
away. I will not allow that to stand, because I will be taking his case 
and calling for an investigation, because I do not want one single 
soldier to come home and face the doors of the hospitals being shut in 
their face.
  The ravages of war also find that children are being killed. How sad 
it is to find that soldiers who simply wanted to engage children in 
Iraq were the cause or the genesis of children, because of a horrible 
suicide bomber, an evil person, yes, but because of the existence of 
our military there and the children coming to them to receive candy, 
much of what I have seen when I visited the soldiers, because they care 
and they love, the soldiers were endangered, the children were 
endangered, and we saw the killing of children in Iraq, the ravages of 
war.
  And then of course in the last 24 hours, the Green Zone that is 
supposed to be safe, the very place that I slept while I was in Iraq, 
had two explosions. So that means that our command and our soldiers 
that come there for comfort, our contractors are not safe. The ravages 
of war. The explosions in the Green Zone.
  There is no safety in Iraq. And then when you talk to the Iraqi 
people, they say, We have no running water, we have no electricity, we 
cannot send our children to school. Meeting with women there, they said 
that they are in fear of their lives, and their children cannot go to 
school.
  There is no solution that seems to be to bring about peace. And then, 
of course, there is discussion of whether or not our military should be 
inside

[[Page 16015]]

Iraq or really at the borders to stop the insurgents or those who come 
to do terrorists acts from coming inside into the country.
  Most importantly, as we give the deepest sympathy to our friends in 
London, England, we offer to our prayers to their families. We realize 
that the terrorism was not one that came inside, it existed inside the 
country, and we realize that that terrorism is what we should be 
focused on, and the fact that Iraq continues to churn in the minds of 
those who think that we are not the great Nation that we are, it 
continues to foster in the minds of those that they should do evil 
things.
  And so it is important for the President and this administration to 
set a timeline, not a date certain, but a timeline to bring our troops 
home. For the families who are now distraught, the Reservists and the 
National Guard families who cannot make ends meet, and, of course, for 
a war that is churning in the minds of those who believe that that is 
all that America represents, it churns, it permeates, it sours, and it 
turns into evil acts.
  It is important for this Nation to stand up and acknowledge that Iraq 
must take the leadership of its own country. We might be able to stay 
on the border, but the constant jeopardy of our young men and women on 
the front lines, not because they are not brave, not because they are 
not courageous, because we have no plan, we have no solution, and they 
become targets of evilness, the children become targets of evilness 
because we represent a certain force in Iraq.
  The war was based upon misdirection and untruth, and so it is hard to 
be able to be liberators when there are no weapons of mass destruction. 
I would simply argue that we must come together, and I am delighted to 
be on the bipartisan legislation that speaks about an orderly timeline.
  And I hope if we ever take this country to war again, whatever 
president it may be, Democratic or Republican, that we will do so with 
a constitutional vote under the Constitution, because we recognize when 
America is at war, we come together as one, we support our troops.
  But the way that we go to war is the key. And victory will come to 
those who understand process and understand plan and understand 
solution and understand exit strategies, success strategies.
  And so, Madam Speaker, I think it is important, as I pay tribute to 
Nathaniel Parker who was buried today, a young soldier who served his 
country in Iraq, that we say to the Nathaniel Parkers whose medical 
system here in the United States failed him, not on our clock, not on 
our watch will this ever happen again, not at Abu Ghraib, or not the 
tragedies of loss of life, not anything that spoils the Democratic 
thrust of America. It will not be on our clock. And I ask my colleagues 
to work with us to bring our troops home.

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