Rep. Thompson on the Iraq Study Group Report

Rep. Thompson on the Iraq Study Group Report

"We've known for a long time that the war in Iraq is spiraling toward chaos and redeployment is necessary. Yet rather than calling it what it is, we have begun to dance around the obvious. I understand what it's like to be a soldier caught in the crosshairs of political pandering. We had already announced our intentions to leave Vietnam by the time I got there in 1970. I was wounded in June 1970 and, tragically, about 9,500 additional men were killed before we finally left. Once again, we risk ignoring the inevitable at the expense of American lives. We need to begin a phased redeployment today."

"I applaud the Iraq Study Group for acknowledging the crippling cost of this war. We have already allocated more than $500 billion, which gets added to our staggering national debt of $8.6 trillion, about $29,000 per American. This price tag doesn't even include the ongoing and tragic costs for our wounded veterans, nor does it account for the $60 billion we'll need to replace lost, ruined and debilitated military equipment."

"In addition, the American public is entitled to know how their tax dollars are being spent in Iraq. Reports have already indicated that billions in reconstruction funds have been either misspent or unaccounted for, and that's only the incidences we've heard about. We need better accountability measures, and I know that the new leadership in Congress will perform this vitally important oversight."

http://mikethompson.house.gov/newsroom/index.asp?ID=101