Mr. Chairman, I thank my friend and colleague from California for raising this issue, which I think is very important.
We are now confronting a situation in Iraq where the number of our military personnel who have been killed is approaching 3,400. Tens of thousands of others have been physically wounded, many of them very seriously. A good number of those deaths and wounds may be attributed to the lack of proper equipment.
We went into that situation, this administration sent our military forces into that circumstance there, without properly preparing for what they had to confront. In fact, they didn't have any idea what they were likely to confront. Many of the issues are that we have not developed the kinds of protection, the kinds of equipment, including transportation equipment and personal protection equipment, a whole host of things that are relevant to this situation, while we spend billions of dollars on materials that may have been necessary during the Cold War but which are no longer necessary now.
We need what this amendment calls for, a re-evaluation of those military activities and equipment, and this is a very simple thing, and it should be done.
