[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7413]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       WE WILL NOT RUN FROM DUTY

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, today we vote on the ``Iraq surrender bill.'' 
Approval of it means we vote to abandon Iraq at an arbitrary time, no 
matter the situation. We vote to retreat even if it means defeat. We 
vote to quit while our troops are in the field. And we vote for peace 
at any price.
  This bill will put American troops at risk. And for some odd reason, 
this emergency Iraqi bill is loaded with squealing pork that has 
nothing to do with our troops or the war. One provision is to give $3 
billion to farmers hurt by bad weather, like my rice farmers in 
southeast Texas that were devastated by Hurricane Rita. But I will not 
barter my position. I will not betray our troops for 30 pieces of 
silver or $3 billion of squealing pork.
  The troops in Iraq need our total commitment, not total defeatism. 
Ronald Reagan put it best, ``Men cry `peace, peace,' but there can be 
no peace as long as there is one American somewhere dying for the rest 
of us.''
  And that's just the way it is.

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