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Expressing Sense of House that Deployment of Forces in Iraq be Terminated Immediately

Date: Dec. 13, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Defense Foreign Affairs


EXPRESSING SENSE OF HOUSE THAT DEPLOYMENT OF FORCES IN IRAQ BE TERMINATED IMMEDIATELY -- (Extensions of Remarks - December 13, 2005)

SPEECH OF
HON. MIKE THOMPSON
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2005

* Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, I served in a war during which too many national leaders played too much politics.

* Tonight is a disgraceful period in the history of our great country and this House of Representatives.

* To wage a political war against one of the greatest military champions Congress has known is no less than unpatriotic.

* Representative JOHN MURTHA (D-PA), the leading Democrat in the House on military affairs, has proposed a plan of action for Iraq and I commend my colleague for his courageous leadership. The measure that has been brought to the floor tonight is not Representative MURTHA's plan.

* Mr. Speaker, it has been this leadership and honesty with the American people that has been lacking in the Presidents position on the war in Iraq. ``Stay the course'' is not a strategy for success, It is little more than hollow rhetoric that offers no real vision.

* We can and should begin to redeploy our troops as soon as possible after the Iraqi people ratify their Constitution in July 2006. In the months leading up to the Iraqi election in July, we need to make it clear to the Iraqi people that we do not intend to occupy their country or maintain permanent military bases there. And it must be made clear to the world that the United States has no intention of controlling Iraq's oil production and oil wealth.

* We must find a rational and reasonable way out of this quagmire. We owe it to the men and women serving us in combat, to their families and to all the American people who are paying both the human and financial costs of this war.

* Advocates of the measure we will vote on tonight are cheapening the job our brave men and women serving in Iraq are doing; the men and women putting their lives on the line to serve our country.

* Mr. Speaker, those who dreamed up this strategy are derelict in their duties, absent without leave from their duty station; and people I would not want to share a foxhole with.

http://thomas.loc.gov

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