Mike Thompson: “As a combat veteran, from the bottom of my heart, I say thank you to the brave men and women who have served in Iraq…”

“As a combat veteran, from the bottom of my heart, I say thank you to the brave men and women who have served in Iraq, each with great distinction. Our troops have done an outstanding job. They have done all that has been asked of them and more. They have performed with the utmost professionalism, making all of us very proud. Now, I believe it is past time that we start bringing these brave men and women home. They should be home with their families, not in the middle of Iraq's civil war. Moreover, we shouldn't be sending more troops into Iraq's civil war. Some of our servicemembers have been on two, three, and even four tours of duty in Iraq already. This escalation would put too much strain on our military and not just our troops. Much of our military's equipment is damaged. It will take years and billions of dollars to repair it and replace it. Nearly every Reserve and National Guard member has been mobilized. The escalation is in no one's best interest. Two weeks ago I joined with my colleague Patrick Murphy from Pennsylvania, a decorated Army captain who served in Iraq, to introduce binding legislation to begin a phased redeployment of our troops out of Iraq.”