Bart Stupak: “H. Res. 757, is a resolution to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11. Although I voted in…”

“H. Res. 757, is a resolution to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11. Although I voted in support of this resolution, I do have some reservations about the statements it contains. Specifically, the resolution and the Bush administration's assertion that Iraq is the ``central front'' in the war on terror--while previously wrong--has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. What have the administration's tactics amounted to? We now see terrorists in Baghdad--where none were before. We now see Iraq is a symbol for terrorist recruitment--where no symbol existed before. Congress and the American people trusted the President when he said we needed to go to war in Iraq. It is clear that trust was misplaced. As a result, what we have to show from trusting President Bush and his administration is 1,000 American lives lost, close to 7,000 of our men and women wounded. We have a military stretched so thin it is practically to its breaking point. We are spending billions of taxpayer dollars each month that we could be using to fix critical gaping homeland security vulnerabilities here at home or for counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere. And this Administration has destroyed our international credibility--even with many of our closest allies.”