Monday, February 19, 2007

The gentleman from Massachusetts says

Mr. CAPUANO: I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I don't have prepared remarks. I have been listening
to this debate for the last couple of days, and everything that can be
said on both sides has been said repeatedly. And thus far the only
thoughtful argument I have heard to not vote for this resolution is
that somehow it will demoralize the troops. That pretends that the
troops live in a bubble and don't know what is going on and just never
think. Everybody who has done any discussions or any polling of the
troops know they already know that this war is over. It's not a
military defeat. To put it that way is ridiculous. No one can defeat
our military. It is absolutely undefeatable. It is a political defeat.
We cannot win, which I am not even sure what that means, this war.
This escalation will do nothing but delay the inevitable. America
knows it.

To listen to the discussion I have heard in the last couple of
days, all I can say to myself, if we had this attitude in the
seventies, we would still be in Vietnam. For what? For what? We have
done what we could do, and we may have to go back someday, and I may
vote for it under the right circumstances. To never say never is
ridiculous. We don't know where the cards are going to be played. We
do know one thing: that today Iraq is engaged in a civil war. One of
the leaders of that civil war isn't even in Iraq. He is in Iran. We
are only delaying the inevitable at the cost of our young men and
women. And I am not talking about money, because if this was the right
war, a moral war, money wouldn't be the issue.

This war is over. We need to recognize that. We need to stop trying
to play politics with it. Bring our troops home and prepare them for
the next battle that we might all join in if it's the right place and
the right time.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home