[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19132]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        COST OF THE WAR IN IRAQ

  (Mr. HALL of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HALL of New York. Mr. Speaker, the war in Iraq has cost, as of 
last week, every man, woman and child in my district, New York's 19th 
district, $3,077. Now, for that $3,077, the men, women and children of 
my district have paid for a war that was a strategic mistake and has 
been horribly mismanaged.
  In the latest example, USA Today revealed that the Pentagon has been 
even slower than we thought in providing safer vehicles for our troops. 
According to e-mails within the Pentagon, a Marine general in Iraq 
requested MRAPs, mine resistant ambush protected vehicles, as far back 
as December 2003. These vehicles offer the best protection from IEDs 
for our troops. The number one killer of troops in Iraq are IEDs.
  However, while Pentagon leadership delayed in providing these 
vehicles to U.S. troops, they decided to equip the Iraqi Army with 
these vehicles, while leaving our soldiers with Humvees. This resulted 
in the unnecessary deaths of at least 600 Americans.
  For $3,000, the taxpayers of my district paid for the best equipment 
we could buy for the Iraqi Army, but left our soldiers and marines with 
substandard Humvees. It is time we reorient our priorities, protect our 
own soldiers, and end this war.

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