Over 2,000 Fallen Heroes
OVER 2,000 FALLEN HEROES -- (House of Representatives - October 27, 2005)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, it has been a long, long, long slog, whether measured in lives or limbs lost.
So many days with no real plan for peace, no real plan for security for our families, so many tears shed by too many families. Too little armor and too little equipment for those who were too quickly placed in harm's way.
Over 2,000 fallen American heroes. Over 15,000 wounded Americans, and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have died in this conflict. The administration is attempting to relieve itself from the duty to offer any strategy at all, even as it constantly recasts the purpose of its tragic go-it-alone invasion.
Like the President's wishful, staged declaration of ``Mission Accomplished'' on that aircraft carrier 2 1/2 years ago, the Vice President blithely states that the insurgency is in its ``final throes.'' Well, each day's news shows how out of touch he continues to be.
But for this administration, any sense of genuine accountability is certainly in it final throes. Its credibility is certainly in its final throes, and the patience of the American people with an administration that lacks any plans for success in Iraq is in its final throes.
And with each wasted week, other families with a son or daughter, with a husband or a wife in Iraq, who are seeing their first or second or maybe even their third tour of duty, they wait, they hope, they pray, and some toss and turn in the middle of the night fearing that knock on the door will ultimately come.
All who have fallen are heroes, and all who have lost their limbs, their lives, their sight, or their way of life because of this very unnecessary conflict are heroes to whom our Nation owes an enormous debt.
But we do not honor the memory of these fallen by building permanent bases in Iraq, by licensing the CIA or others to torture in the name of the United States, or by calling on the same military families to again and again send their loved ones into danger, even while the richest corporations and the wealthiest Americans are not asked to sacrifice a dime, but are rewarded with tax breaks and no-bid contracts and crony appointments in this administration.
More than any grim statistics can reveal, each of these unique losses is measured by the milestones of life missed by loved ones: births and baptisms, ball games and holidays, graduations, weddings, grandchildren, the natural journey of life, cut short or completely sacrificed in this administration's war of choice.
And even as this morass in Iraq worsens, more than 90 percent of the American deaths have come about since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations. The administration's plan, if it ever even had one, has simply failed to evolve. So the budget deficit soars, gas prices rocket, billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars that are needed here are sent there, and the numbing count of dead and wounded continues to soar.
Beyond the power of any prosecutor, it is history that will indict this administration.
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