Lynn C. Woolsey: “I thank the chairman of the Out of Iraq Caucus, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), in bringing all of the…”

“I thank the chairman of the Out of Iraq Caucus, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), in bringing all of the voices together in the Congress, because we all have a lot to say. And we are all getting to the same conclusion, the conclusion that I reached a couple of years ago, actually. We do not need to be in Iraq. We are making a mistake. It is a faux war, and we need to bring our troops home now. Mr. Speaker, I want to share a quote: ``Victory means exit strategy, and it is important for the President to explain to us what that exit strategy is.'' Those words were not spoken by a Member of Congress, not by a prominent opponent of the Iraq war. They were not even spoken by this President about this war. Those words were spoken in April 1999 about President Clinton's military campaign in Kosovo, and they were spoken by a Republican Governor named George W. Bush. But what a difference 6\1/2\ years makes. It is precisely an exit strategy that is missing from our Iraq policy. With over 2,000 of our citizens dead, $1 billion of tax dollars being spent in Iraq every week, the American people have a right to some answers to some important questions like, what exactly defines victory? What are the benchmarks of success? What is the long-term plan? What does the end game look like? These are the questions that my leader of the Iraq Caucus has been asking about tonight. We are paying for this war in blood and money.…”