[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9077]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     U.S. NEEDS TO GET OUT OF IRAQ

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, the administration is closing defense 
bases here at home and building new bases in Iraq. There is no money to 
maintain some defense installations here, but there is $270 billion and 
counting for establishing a permanent presence in Iraq. The Armed 
Forces ranks are depleted. Enlistment is falling off. So the 
administration is hard at work privatizing the war, having hired about 
20,000 so-called contractors, mercenaries, to do work that used to be 
done by the military.
  A member of the new private army in Iraq may make as much as 10 times 
more than what an enlisted soldier makes, and private companies making 
billions from the Iraq war will no doubt be quick to make political 
contributions to make sure the war keeps going. Our Reservist and 
National Guard units are fortifying a mission to which they should have 
never been called.
  Iraq has turned into a tragedy. What is even more tragic is the 
thinking that says, Well, we are there; now we need to stay and finish 
the job.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to get out. The sooner the better. And we need 
to hold accountable those whose lies sent our soldiers there at the 
cost of many American lives and the lives of innocent Iraqis.

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