[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 27368]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              DEMONSTRATING THE COURAGE OF OUR CONVICTIONS

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, the American people want this Congress to 
debate the war in Iraq. We should have had a debate before we entered 
into this war. Instead, we rushed into it.
  Yesterday, Congressman Jack Murtha, a man of conscience, a decorated 
Vietnam veteran, one of the leading advocates for the military here in 
the United States Congress, stood up and told it like it is, that the 
situation in Iraq is getting worse, not getting better, and we, our 
huge U.S. presence, is a major part of the problem. We have become the 
focus. We have become the people who are being attacked.
  Congressman Murtha deserves credit. Rather than engaging in a debate, 
what we hear from the other side and from the White House is more and 
more smear tactics, those who claim they are somehow being unpatriotic. 
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Dissent in the face of 
policies that you disagree with is patriotism. To remain silent as you 
see this country going down the wrong path is not patriotism, it is 
moral cowardice.
  I praise Congressman Jack Murtha for having the courage of his 
convictions and standing up and leading the way to get us out of this 
war in Iraq.

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