[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5814-5815]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           CORPORAL CLOY RICHARDS--``WHY I FIGHT FOR PEACE''

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, all too often the painful stories of those 
who have served in Iraq go unheard by Representatives in Washington; 
however, their experiences are a window into the truth about the real 
effect of this war on real people, both in service and after they come 
home from service.
  One of these stories belongs to Corporal Cloy Richards, who bravely 
served with the United States Marine Corps for two tours in Iraq and 
may soon be called back again even though he has been diagnosed with 
PTS.
  Cloy Richards has a poem; it is a courage poem. It is entitled: ``Why 
I Fight for Peace.'' This poem is exactly the message we need to hear.

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  The message that shows us in our continuing debate on funding the 
occupation of Iraq, just how this affects our servicemembers.
  As I said, the poem is called, ``Why I Fight for Peace,'' by Corporal 
Cloy Richards, United States Marine Corps. And I am going to read it, 
Mr. Speaker.
  ``Because I can't forget no matter how hard I try. They told us we 
are taking out advancing Iraqi forces, but when we went to check out 
the bodies, they were nothing but women and children desperately 
fleeing their homes because they wanted to get out of the city before 
we attacked in the morning.
  ``Because my little brother, who is my job to protect, decided to 
join the California National Guard to get some money for college, and 
they promised he wouldn't go to Iraq. Instead, 3 months after 
enlisting, he was sent to Iraq for 1 year.
  ``Since he has been home for the last 6 months, he refuses to talk to 
anyone; he lives by himself. The only person he associates with is a 
friend of his, the one other man out of his squad of 13 men who made it 
home alive.
  ``He called me a few weeks ago for the first time, and he told me 
he's having nightmares. I asked what they were about, and he said, 
they're about picking up the pieces of his fellow soldiers after a car 
bomb hit them.
  ``Because every single one of the Marines I served with, the really 
brave warriors, even when some friends and people they looked up to got 
killed and lost an arm or a leg, they wouldn't cry; they just kept 
fighting. They completed their mission.
  ``Every one of them I have spoken to since we got home has broken 
down crying in front of me, saying all they can do since they got back 
is bounce from job to job, drink and do drugs and contemplate suicide 
to end the pain.
  ``Because I'm tired of drinking, bouncing from job to job and 
contemplating suicide to end the pain.
  ``Because every time I see a child, I think of the thousands I have 
slaughtered. Because every time I see a young soldier, I think of the 
thousands Bush has slaughtered. Because every time I look in the 
mirror, I see a casualty of war.
  ``Because I have a lot of lives I have to make up for, the lives I 
have taken. And because it's right. That's why I fight. Because of 
soldiers with wounds you can't see.''
  As I said, Cloy Richards served two tours in Iraq. He is currently in 
the IRR and facing a possible involuntary recall for a third tour.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues, I urge the President to remember 
that our commitment to our soldiers does not stop on the battlefield. 
It must continue when our troops return home.
  Corporal Richards deserves our full support. He has bravely fulfilled 
his duty to fight for our country.
  Now it is time for the Congress to fulfill its duty, and we must do 
that by heeding his call for peace. This is a call we cannot afford to 
ignore.

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