[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 25792-25793]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               RUSH LIMBAUGH'S ``PHONY SOLDIER'' COMMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Well, Rush Limbaugh is at it again. Unable to defend 
an indefensible war in Iraq, he has once again resorted to ``sliming'' 
the messenger. In this case, unbelievably, the messengers he's going 
after are the brave men and women who have served their country in 
Iraq, Afghanistan, and other wars.
  Men and women who serve in Iraq differ from Rush Limbaugh in two 
critical ways. First, unlike Mr. Limbaugh, they actually served in the 
military. Second, unlike Mr. Limbaugh, they understand that the war in 
Iraq is making our country less safe and destroying the military.

[[Page 25793]]

  How dare Rush Limbaugh label anyone who has served in the military as 
a ``phony soldier.'' How dare he say that his views in Iraq, formed in 
the comfort of his radio studio, are legitimate, while the views of 
those whose opinions were forged on the battlefield are not. Could Rush 
Limbaugh actually face soldiers who have risked their lives and tell 
them that their beliefs don't matter?
  These are soldiers like Brandon Friedman, a former rifle platoon 
leader in the Army's 101st Airborne Division who fought in Afghanistan 
in 2002 and commanded troops in Iraq. He says, ``The escalation of the 
war is failing and now the mission must change. The fact is,'' he says, 
``the Iraq war has kept us from devoting assets we need to fight 
terrorists worldwide, as evidenced by the fact that Osama bin Laden is 
still on the loose and al Qaeda has been able to rebuild. We need an 
effective strategy that takes the fight to our real enemies abroad, and 
the best way to do that is to get our troops out of the middle of the 
civil war in Iraq.'' Is Brandon Friedman a phony?
  Or Josh Gaines, who earned the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary 
Medal and the National Defense Service Medal during his 2 years in 
Iraq, he believes the war in Iraq was a mistake from the beginning. Is 
he a phony? Or retired General William Odom, the head of the National 
Security Agency during the Reagan administration. His advice: ``The 
sensible policy is not to stay the course in Iraq. It is rapid 
withdrawal, re-establishing strong relations with our allies in Europe, 
showing confidence in the U.N. Security Council, and trying to knit 
together a large coalition, including the major states of Europe, 
Japan, South Korea, China and India to back a strategy for stabilizing 
the area from the eastern Mediterranean to Afghanistan to Pakistan.'' 
General Odom says: ``Until the United States withdraws from Iraq and 
admits its strategic error, no such coalition can be formed. Thus those 
fear leaving a mess are actually helping make things worse while 
preventing a new strategic approach with some promise of success.''
  Does Rush Limbaugh really want to look General Odom in the eye and 
call him a phony? I believe that we should all pay attention to the 
views of Brandon Friedman and Josh Gaines and General Odom whose 
beliefs, like their military experience, are real. And while we're at 
it, let's pay attention to the 72 percent of American troops serving in 
Iraq who also think the U.S. should exit the country within the next 
year, and more than one in four who say the troops should leave 
immediately, according to the Zogby poll. I guess they're all a bunch 
of phonies, according to Rush Limbaugh.
  Our military men and women deserve respect. Apparently, however, Mr. 
Limbaugh thinks they deserve to be smeared and belittled unless they 
happen to agree with him. I understand why Rush Limbaugh cannot debate 
this war on the merits, but bashing soldiers and veterans who disagree 
with him is unpatriotic and un-American.

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