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Our Soldiers Don't Need Another Hollow Amendment
House of Representatives - July 20, 2005

McDermott speaks on Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen's amendment to the Department of State appropriations bill. Her amendment states that "calls for an early withdrawal from Iraq will embolden terrorists."

Mr. Chairman, the Ros-Lehtinen amendment is a Republican PR stunt that if approved will make Iraq more dangerous for U.S. soldiers than it already is, and that is very, very dangerous.

Watch this floor speech [Click here to get Windows Media Player]

The President's credibility is a well that is fast running dry.

We have the best soldiers and the best military commanders in the world. They do not need an inflammatory amendment by a Republican Party behaving like armchair generals while the fighting and dying and chaos goes on in Iraq.

What we need to today is total commitment to our soldiers, not empty promises, underfunded programs and outright deception by the Republican Party. The best way to support U.S. soldiers in Iraq is to fully fund and provide health care for veterans when they come home. The best way to support them is to stop pretending that everything is going fine.

Hundreds have died since the Vice President categorically denied reality by claiming we were witnessing the ``last throes of the insurgency."

Reality, like body armor, is in short supply in this administration.

As of today, 126 Members of the democratically elected Iraqi parliament, that is nearly half of 275, have signed a statement calling on the U.S. to leave now. Now. That is what the reality is. That is the environment faced by our brave soldiers.

Our soldiers know that this country believes in them and supports them. Our soldiers do not need the tin sound of another hollow amendment. They need the sound of silence to mark the day when the bombs stop exploding and the guns stop firing.

The best way to support U.S. soldiers in Iraq is to get the United Nations or NATO in, so that we can begin getting our soldiers out now. Vote no on this amendment that does nothing to save or bring them home. They are counting on us to correct the mistake we made by supporting the President in starting this war in the first place.