National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008--Continued

Floor Speech

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008--Continued -- (Senate - July 17, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, yesterday in Chicago, Eric Lill was laid to rest. Eric Lill grew up in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. He watched the White Sox. He ate Connie's pizza. On September 11, he was moved to enlist in the Army. He left in February of 2002 to serve, and in his second deployment in Iraq, he was killed by a roadside bomb.

On Sunday, SPC Eric Lill came home from Iraq in a flag-draped coffin. He was 28 years old. He leaves behind a 6-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter.

Eric Lill's story is a story repeated thousands of times across America during the course of this war, 150 times in my home State of Illinois--stories of bravery and heroism. There are also 30,000 stories of injured Americans who have come home with amputations and traumatic brain injuries, some whose lives will never be the same. They are our patriots, our heroes, and we salute them.

Across the street from Eric Lill's house on the south side of Chicago is the home of his grandmother, Marlene Alvarado. Specialist Lill used to call his grandmother every Saturday from Iraq to tell her he was safe. This morning, Mrs. Alvarado looks out her front window over at her grandson's house still decorated with yellow ribbons.

During the course of this 4 1/2 -year war, a war that has lasted longer than World War II, there have been many yellow ribbons, there have been many flag-draped caskets, and there have been many broken Iraqi promises.

I listened to the speeches from the other side of the aisle pleading with us to be patient with the Iraqis; the time will come when they will lead their nation forward. I could give the Iraqis patience if it weren't patience paid for in the lives and blood of American servicemen. We have been patient for 4 1/2 years. It is time for the Iraqis to stand and defend their own nation.

It is time for honesty, not bravado. It is time for realism, not fantasy. This war was born in deception. At the highest levels of our Government, it has been waged with incompetence and arrogance. Sadly, it is the most serious foreign policy mistake of our time. This war will not end if we depend on the insight or the humility of our President.

We, those of us who are Members of the Senate, must speak for the American people. We must speak for our war-weary soldiers, and we must bring this war to an end. At the end of this debate, there will be a vote on an amendment, the only amendment which will bring our soldiers home and end this war responsibly.

I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join us in this bipartisan effort.

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