Speaker Pelosi has given us a plan-- not as strong as I want, but one I will support as the bare minimum, because it has a timetable and demands accountability from Iraqi leaders.Here's the full statement:
Bare minimum, but dramatically better than what we have today, which is a war without end, from a President capable only of escalation, not negotiation.
The heroes of our nation, the soldiers fighting and dieing on the front lines, deserve to come home.
The people of Iraq deserve to have the future of their country in their own hands.
With this legislation, we acknowledge the will and wisdom of the American people, who realize that the Iraq war is a fraud, and perpetuating it by sacrificing more innocent U.S. and Iraqi lives is a tragedy we will not tolerate any longer.
I urge my colleagues to vote for Speaker Pelosi's plan, because this is a vote for peace.
Madame Speaker:
Those elected to serve in the People's House sometimes must decide matters of war and peace; in other words, matters of life and death. And nothing is more important.
Today, we stand at the crossroads of one such momentous decision, and let no one doubt that the lives of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians hang in the balance.
This is a vote of conscience, and one of the most important votes I will ever cast in the House of Representatives.
Over four years ago, a vote in this House enabled this President to take America to war.
Earlier today, I told Speaker Nancy Pelosi that I will cast my vote to bring America home to peace.
I want to get all of our soldiers out of Iraq tomorrow, but safely extracting over 140,000 U.S. soldiers cannot be done overnight, and the safety of our soldiers in leaving Iraq must be paramount.
I want to end this incomprehensible war tomorrow, but as a medical doctor I know that no matter what we do today, this war will go on for decades in the minds of psychologically wounded soldiers, and in the bodies of severely injured soldiers.
What we have before us is a first step. And despite my serious misgivings about it, it is the only step in the right direction, which is out of Iraq .
Speaker Pelosi has given America a plan, a timetable, and course of action, demonstrating the leadership we have never seen from the President on Iraq .
The President has lost the trust of the American people, and his every statement about Iraq deepens the mistrust- at home and around the world.
Instead of confronting reality, the President stubbornly adheres to a fiction of his own creation that a military victory will be achieved in a nation in the throes of full scale civil war, with an American presence inciting unspeakable violence against our soldiers from all sides.
The Iraqi people have seen their lives sink into misery. Millions have fled the country or been displaced from their homes.
Those remaining live in terror that a trip to the market will mark the end of their life, and all too often, it does.
The Iraqi people want us out, because they see the US as an occupier. They want the U.S. out because it is their country and their oil, not ours.
This war should have never started, and Americans at the end of the 21st Century will still be paying for this presidential misadventure.
Preying on the fears of the American people, this President devised a war-first policy, unheard of in American history. The President implemented his chilling foreign policy vision in Iraq .
When just cause for war did not exist, the Administration made it up, preying on America 's vulnerabilities after 9/11.
They called it the war against terror, but we know now it is a war of revenge and a war to control oil.
It was never about exporting Democracy; it was always about exploiting the fears of the American people to do what the White House had been planning long before 9/11.
Invade Iraq , control its government, and enable favored western oil companies to reap a bonanza of profits as they extracted Iraqi oil, and perpetuated America 's addiction to oil.
Speaker Pelosi has given us a plan-- not as strong as I want, but one I will support as the bare minimum, because it has a timetable and demands accountability from Iraqi leaders.
Bare minimum, but dramatically better than what we have today, which is a war without end, from a President capable only of escalation, not negotiation.
The heroes of our nation, the soldiers fighting and dieing on the front lines, deserve to come home.
The people of Iraq deserve to have the future of their country in their own hands.
With this legislation, we acknowledge the will and wisdom of the American people, who realize that the Iraq war is a fraud, and perpetuating it by sacrificing more innocent U.S. and Iraqi lives is a tragedy we will not tolerate any longer.
I urge my colleagues to vote for Speaker Pelosi's plan, because this is a vote for peace.
Thank you.
AP:
Indeed, several Northwest lawmakers are undecided. That list ranges from liberal Democrats such as Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Portland and Jim McDermott of Seattle, to conservative Republican Rep. Greg Walden of Hood River, Ore., and moderate Republican Rep. Dave Reichert from the suburbs east of Seattle.
Blumenauer declined to comment Wednesday, but a spokeswoman said he was talking to Pelosi and other Democratic leaders "to make sure we get the best bill we possibly can, and he will make his final decision when he's ready."
The spokeswoman, Erin Allweiss, said Blumenauer is "excited about what's in (the bill) for Oregon," but wants to make sure the language on Iraq is acceptable.
McDermott, normally a close ally of Pelosi, is also undecided. In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, McDermott called the vote both personal and deeply felt.
"My experience is such that I don't want to do anything to extend this war," he wrote. "While I respect and admire the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, this is a vote of conscience. For me, this is a decision to send people, perhaps, to their death. This is one of the most important votes I will ever cast in the House. I want to be firm in my convictions before casting my ballot."
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