The President Must Keep His Promise and Provide our Troops With What They Need

Floor Speech

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bishop of Utah). Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) said earlier, he referred back to the prime time press conference that the President had some weeks ago where he could not think of any mistakes he had made in response to a question. So some of us have been offering ideas so at the next, if he has one, prime time press conference he would not have to fumble for an answer.

I have to say that with the year anniversary of "mission accomplished," that speech on the deck of the aircraft carrier, that he might want to think about some mistakes that have been made regarding the war in Iraq. Whether one is for or against the war in Iraq, here is something to consider. I wanted to use not my own words, but I wanted to refer to the Newsweek of May 3 and just read a couple of sections here.

"For the Bush administration," this is all a quote, "it has been a mantra, one the President intones repeatedly: America's troops will get whatever they need to do the job. But as Iraq's liberation has turned into a daily grind of low intensity combat and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld grudgingly raises troop levels, many soldiers who are there say the Pentagon is failing to protect them with the best technology America has to offer. Especially tanks, Bradleys, and other heavy vehicles, even in some cases body armor. That has been the tragic lesson of April, a month in which a record 115 U.S. soldiers have died so far, and 879 others have been wounded, 560 of them fairly seriously.

"Soldiers in Iraq complain that Washington has been too slow to acknowledge that the Iraqi insurgency consists of more than 'dead-enders.' And even at the Pentagon many officers say Rumsfeld and his brass have been too reluctant to modify their long-term plans for a lighter military. On the battlefield, that has translated into a lack of armor. Perhaps the most telling example: a year ago the Pentagon had more than 400 main battle tanks in Iraq; as of recently, a senior defense official told Newsweek, there was barely a brigade's worth of operational tanks still there. (A brigade usually has about 70 tanks.)"

How about this: "According to an unofficial study by a defense consultant that is now circulating through the Army, of a total of 789 Coalition deaths as of April 15, (686 of them Americans), 142 were killed by land mines or improvised explosive devices, while 48 others died in rocket-propelled grenade attacks. Almost all of those soldiers were killed while in unprotected vehicles, which means that perhaps one in four of those killed in combat in Iraq might be alive if they had had stronger armor around them, the study suggested."

I want to repeat that: "One in four of those killed in combat might be alive if they had had stronger armor around them, the study suggested. Thousands more who were unprotected have suffered grievous wounds such as the loss of limbs."

I guess it was a week ago Sunday I attended a meeting in my district of 500 people organized by Military Families Speak Out, who have a website that has actually provided a lot of comfort to some of the families who feel quite alone in this situation, Military Families Speak Out. There was an aunt of a soldier who went down in an Illinois National Guard Chinook helicopter on November 2, 2003. This helicopter was not equipped with the latest automatic antimissile blocking system. That is partly because the National Guard is lower down the list on who gets the really good equipment.

Finally, let me quote from a letter from a soldier that was in the Peoria Journal Star, actually. He said, "Our unit's tour of duty in Iraq has been extended past our one-year mark. This is not in line with what our supposed leaders have proposed.

"Let your readers know as well that this unit does not have the extra armor that is now required for vehicle convoys." This is April 24, 2004. "Even though we have been here for over a year, we still do not have the right protection from roadside bombs or small-arms fire. Our doors are basically just two sides of sheet metal."

He says, "I would like to get home and continue my life, as our Congressmen are doing with theirs. Members of," and he mentions his company, "have done our time here in Iraq with honor, and now we are ready to go home."

So, Mr. President, it seems to me that the mistake was made and is still being made, and cries out for a remedy. The least we ought to do is what you promised, and that is that our troops will have everything they need. They still do not. They must. And that is the least that we can do for our soldiers. For those of us who were against the war from the beginning or those who supported the war, all of us support our troops. It is a mistake not to.

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