Lynn C. Woolsey: “I am a proud member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I am a member of the Progressive Caucus and the Out of Iraq…”

“I am a proud member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I am a member of the Progressive Caucus and the Out of Iraq Caucus, and I have been working to bring our troops home since before we sent them there. Mr. Speaker, the decision to send more brave Americans into the Iraq grinder is an act of staggering arrogance for the President. Nearly two-thirds of our people think this is a deeply flawed, tragically misguided policy. They get it, Mr. Speaker. They can see that more troops won't stop the sectarian violence, because it is our very military presence that ignited this sectarian violence in the first place. The human cost in Iraq has been devastating. By some estimates, several hundred thousand Iraq citizens have died, died for the cause of their own so-called liberation. No wonder a majority of Iraqis want the occupation to end. As the late columnist Molly Ivins put it, 'Iraq is clearly hubris carried to the point of insanity. It is damn hard to convince people you're killing them for their own good.' I hope that an overwhelming vote in favor of this resolution will compel the President to rethink his Iraq policy. But, if not, this body will have no choice but to take further steps. Ultimately we must do more than send a message. We must send a convoy of military planes to bring our troops home. Together with my colleagues, Congresswomen Lee and Waters, I have offered a plan to end the war once and for all.”