[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6673]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            THE WAR IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today is the fourth anniversary of our 
invasion of Iraq. We still don't necessarily know why we went to war in 
Iraq; I certainly don't. This is my first year in Congress, and we have 
a very serious and important matter coming up this week which we have 
to vote on. I haven't decided exactly how I am going to vote. I know I 
want us out of Iraq. I want our troops to be safe, but be protected, 
and I want our veterans to be looked after.
  There is a proposal to come up to suggest we should have a definite 
date, September 1 of 2008, to have our troops out of Iraq, and to have 
certain benchmarks which the Iraqi Government has to meet, and have our 
President certify they have met them at different times in the summer 
and next fall.
  There are certain restrictions on the troops that says that the 
military can't send folks in if they haven't had a year off, they are 
not properly trained and don't have proper equipment, which is kind of 
hard for me to fathom, that after 4 years of war, we are only now 
getting around to saying our troops should have proper equipment, 
proper training and proper rest. It's hard for me to imagine what's 
gone on the last 4 years, what type of oversight or undersight has 
taken place in this Congress, and what type of concern that the 
administration has had for our troops, sending them into Iraq without 
proper training and without proper equipment.
  It borders on malfeasance, and it makes me wonder, in voting for $100 
billion in the supplemental budget, if it's not negligence, and Mr. 
Speaker knows as a lawyer it may be beyond that. It may be gross 
negligence of this administration, which has shown it doesn't know how 
to handle money, particularly in sending it to Iraq, where $10 billion 
is totally missing, other monies have just disappeared, to give them 
$100 billion and to give them the care and custody of American men and 
women, great patriots who have volunteered for military duty.
  We have had 3,200 Americans die in Iraq, over 3,200 now, and 
casualties in the area of 20,000. For every day we stay there longer, 
there will be more and more casualties and more and more deaths.
  I understand the proposal being put forth is an advancement, and it's 
more than the Senate will do, and it's more than the administration 
will permit, because they have said they will veto anything with a 
date, anything with conditions, anything that is reasonable, that 
reflects what the American people want to have, which is the same 
policy in Iraq to get our troops home and to find a way to end 
America's nightmare, which has, indeed, been a nightmare.
  We were told the mission was accomplished. I don't know what has been 
accomplished. I have read newspapers today, and everybody, people in 
Iraq, have no medical care, they have very little electricity, they are 
living in squalor, and they say life was better with Saddam Hussein 
than it is now. We have not improved the lives of the Iraqi people. We 
have pretty much destroyed their country, and we claim we did it for 
freedom.
  But one of the conditions upon which we will measure the benchmarks 
is if they give us their oil and give it to some of our multinational 
companies, which makes you wonder if they hate us because of our love 
for freedom, or if they hate us because we want to take their oil. 
Maybe that is what it was all about was oil, blood for oil.
  It's hard for me not to support a progressive measure, which I know 
Speaker Pelosi and I know my party's leadership is going to advance, to 
try to bring some end to this nightmare. But at the same time it's 
difficult for me to give another dollar and another life to the care 
and custody of this administration. I do think it's gross negligence 
probably to do so when you look at what they have done over the last 4 
years.
  I read about death this weekend in Iraq, soldiers who died who were 
20 years old, 19 years old, 21 years old, and I thought about how young 
they were. They are children basically, children with guns, going over 
to Iraq, and they are dying because they fall, they have an IED blow 
them up. It's not mano a mano, it is not being shot by Iraqis. It's 
IEDs. Every day we stay, there will be more and more American men and 
women being blown up, being sent to inadequate facilities such as 
Walter Reed because we haven't gotten out.
  I don't know that the situation there will get any better. The 
President today called a press conference and spoke and said we need to 
keep going forward; we won't know in weeks, we won't know in months, we 
won't know until longer if this surge or escalation will work.
  It's not going to work. You learn from history. If you don't learn 
from history, you are a fool. The fact is you look at the past, you can 
look at the Sunnis and the Shi'a and the situation over there and the 
insurgents, and our being there has not made a difference. It just 
means that American men and women have died, and the dollars that 
should have been spent in cities in America to help children with 
education and health care hasn't been spent.
  I am conflicted. I hope the people in my district will let me know 
what they think. Should we spend another dollar and sacrifice another 
life, or should we get out as soon as possible?

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