[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10138]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ: THE VOICES OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN

  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, like all of my colleagues, I have received 
thousands of e-mails, letters, faxes and phone calls about the ongoing 
occupation of Iraq. So many of them are touching, and they are 
impassioned. They urge me, they call on me, and they even beg me to get 
the administration to bring our troops home, and to allow the Iraqis to 
restore the security of their Nation.
  Last week I received a set of letters that stood out among all of 
them, from Ms. Rene King's students at Sheppard School in Santa Rosa, 
California. Most of the children are 9 through 13 years old, yet their 
thoughts are mature and beyond their age. In fact, their words speak so 
much truth, a truth which we can absolutely not ignore.
  From Marcos, 10 years old, ``Can you please stop the war in Iraq? 
Because the people in Iraq aren't safe. Their villages and houses are 
destroyed. I do not like fighting.''
  From Arturo, 11 years old. ``Can you please stop the war in Iraq? 
There is a lot of killing, a lot of people have died. People want to 
get out of fighting. I feel sad when people die.''
  From Freddy, 11 years old. ``Can you please stop the war in Iraq? I 
do not like fighting and killing people. Some people are dead. Don't 
send my people, please. We don't like to fight all the people. The 
people are sad. We need to save money for poor people here in America. 
Ms. King (my teacher) is sad. Stop sending people into the war.''
  From Tony, 11 years old. ``Can you please stop the war in Iraq? There 
are a lot of sad and crying families. I feel sad in our country. I 
don't like when people are mad at our country. I do not feel safe and 
other people do not feel safe.''
  From Genaro, age 13, ``Can you please stop the war in Iraq? There is 
a lot of killing. More than 3,000 Americans have died. Stop sending 
people to the war. We need to save the money for poor people here in 
America.''
  From Yovany, age 12, ``Can you please stop the war in Iraq? There is 
a lot of killing. We need to save money for the poor people. More than 
600,000 Iraqis have died. Please stop sending people to the war.''
  From Jose, 10 years old. ``Can you please stop the war in Iraq? The 
people of Iraq aren't safe in their villages, and houses are destroyed. 
More than 3,000 Americans have died. Please stop sending people to 
war.''
  From Tomas, age 9, ``Can you please stop the war in Iraq? There is a 
lot of killing. A lot of people have died. More than 3,000 Americans 
have died. Families are being broken apart.''
  From Steven, age 12. ``Can you stop the war, please? A lot of people 
have died. Please, I don't like wars. No one feels safe. If you keep 
sending soldiers, more people will be sad.''
  One student, Angelina, wrote directly to the President, and here is 
what she wrote. ``I think you are making a big mistake. I like you, but 
your choices make me mad. You need to ask your people about war. I know 
these people said they will serve the Army. They never said they wanted 
to die there. If you were ever able to run again, Mr. President, I 
would not vote for you. I wish I could say you are helping, but you are 
not. There is another way to handle things other than guns and bombs. I 
think you should be more like Martin Luther King, Jr., Mr. President. 
He thought there was another way to handle things than war. I think the 
United States needs a different President.''
  These words are honest, these words are true. If only more people 
listen to the children, the future of this Nation may be different. 
What a better world we could be living in.

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