Providing for Consideration of HR 557, Relating to the Liberation of the Iraqi People and the Valiant Service of the US Armed Forces and Coalition

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H. RES. 557, RELATING TO THE LIBERATION OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE AND THE VALIANT SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES AND COALITION FORCES -- (House of Representatives - March 17, 2004)

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, at this time I am happy to yield 2 ½ minutes to the gentleman from Lemoyne, Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), a very able Member.

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Mr. MURTHA. Mr. Speaker, I am indignant, I am insulted, and I am embarrassed that no one came to me and asked me about this resolution. Nobody said, Do you have any input? Nobody has supported this war. The gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) and I put a bill on this floor that only 16 people voted against. And I am embarrassed that my colleague would come up with a partisan resolution saying whatever was said without any consultation to the Democrats, particularly me, who has voted so strongly for the defense of this country.

I go home and people criticize me for my position on the war. One fellow said to me, Never in history have so many been misled by so few. And, unfortunately, he was talking about me. He believed that I had misled him. I believed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I believed there was imminent danger to this country. And the reason we go to war is because there is a core danger to our national security. We do not go to war because they drained the swamps in Iraq.

I do not think anybody needs to question the Congress who supports the troops in Iraq or anyplace else. We voted continuously and overwhelmingly for the troops. We have tried to make sure they had what they needed, even though there were mistakes made in the original deployment.

There were many shortages that we saw. And we made sure when we went over there, a number of us went over there, we found those shortages, reported them to the Department of Defense; and we started to rectify those shortages.

We know there were changes that before our subcommittee an Under Secretary of Defense came forward and said this war will cost nothing. This war will be paid for by the oil revenues of the Iraqis. We know that in the last war our allies came up with $60 billion. We know that this time we have come up with $150 billion to pay for this war from the United States. We are paying much of the expense of the allies in this war.

This is not the time to divide the country. We are talking about we have got the lowest level of support internationally than we have ever had. All the polls indicate that overseas we are discredited. We are discredited because they do not believe what we say.

It is hard to comprehend. I read not long ago where Dean Acheson went to France and he went to France to talk about the Cuban missile crisis. And when he went to France, he said, I have got proof. He talked to President de Gaulle, and President de Gaulle was not one of our best supporters. He said, I have got photos here which will show you that we have missiles in Cuba. This was during the missile crisis. President de Gaulle said, I do not need to see those photos. I will take the word of the President of the United States.

Now, that is the problem we face. We need to come together. I hope that this resolution will be withdrawn and that we will change a few words in it that would make it unified for the whole country.

For instance, is it safer today in Spain? Is it safer in the Middle East? These are the things that I worry about. Just by putting something on paper you cannot say it is safe. It is just like the President, I am sure he thought the war was over when he said the war is over. I am sure when he made the announcement he thought the war was over, but that does not make it over. And putting it on paper does not mean that we are out of this with this conflict.

We need the support of allies. We need the support, the solid support of this Congress. This is a long-term fight. I had members of the State Department over before with me in my office and they were telling me about the transition. This is going to be a very, very difficult transition. I do not say it was a shotgun wedding, but I would say we put together something where it is going to be very difficult to get the Iraqi people to agree when you have the divisions that you have in Iraq.

So we are going to need everybody's support, not only in Congress; but we are going to need the people of the world's support because it is such a difficult issue for us to face.

I am in it for the long run. Any money that they need, any equipment they need, anything they need, I am going to be there in front, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) and I, and all the rest of the committee and all the rest of the Members of Congress. Because everybody wants to support the troops. But you put it on paper, it does not mean that the troops are safer.

Now, I had two young women come to my office. Both of them had lost their husbands. One had two children, one had one child. I have lost six from my district. And they are from a very poor family. And they came in and they went to Walter Reed and they took gifts out to the wounded at Walter Reed.

Many of us have been out there. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) has been out there; the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) has been out there. All of us have been out to Walter Reed. And this one young woman, 22 years old with a child said, You know, I got married, I got pregnant. Then my husband was deployed and I had a baby. He was killed and I had a baby. She said, I should not have to live my whole life in one year.

We support the troops. All of us support the troops. But we cannot get up here and divide the Nation at this time. This should be a bipartisan resolution. And I would hope we will be able to work that out so that everyone can vote for a resolution that shows this great country is united.