Lynn C. Woolsey: “it is time for Congress to discuss the war in Iraq and how to end the terrible suffering that it is causing our troops…”

“it is time for Congress to discuss the war in Iraq and how to end the terrible suffering that it is causing our troops, their families and the Iraqi people. First and foremost, I honor, I support the brave men and women who are serving our country in Iraq, and I believe that the best way to support them is to establish a plan to bring them home. In just over 2 years of war, more than 1,600 American soldiers and an estimated 25,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed. The number of American wounded, according to the Pentagon, is greater than 12,000 and that does not count the invisible mental wounds they are bringing home, which afflict as many as 25,000 more of our soldiers. The war in Iraq has also cost our country about $200 billion in slightly more than 2 years. With this much money on the line, do the American people not deserve to know what the President's plan is for Iraq? How long he expects U.S. troops to remain there? How much this war will cost all told and how he plans to pay for it? I credit the many brave individuals in Iraq who risked their lives to give back to the Iraqi people by voting in their January election, but after the election, our continued presence in Iraq has caused America to be seen by the Iraqi people as an occupying power, not as a liberating force. Our continued military presence in Iraq works against efforts for democracy. It provides a rallying point for angry insurgents and ultimately makes the United States less safe.…”