Pete Stark: “Today's vote is very difficult for me. I support the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. The U.S. Troop…”

“Today's vote is very difficult for me. I support the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. The U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health, and Iraq Accountability Act is a significant improvement over the President's failed Iraq policies. For years, Bush has sent our troops into harms way without the proper equipment. Today's legislation aims to hold the Administration accountable for its own readiness standards--and for the benchmarks President Bush himself proposed for Iraqi government performance. This bill also goes farther toward providing an actual end date for this war than any other legislation that has reached the House floor. I applaud Speaker Pelosi, Jack Murtha, and Dave Obey for this significant achievement. I wish I could support my Speaker today and vote with the overwhelming majority of my Democratic colleagues. But, I can't vote 'yes.' I ran for Congress because of my strong opposition to our government's unyielding commitment to the Vietnam War. I didn't think it made sense for American men and women to die for the half-truths of the Johnson and Nixon Administrations. Today, I don't think it makes any more sense for lives to be lost for the outright lies of the Bush regime. I voted against the original resolution authorizing the President to take military action against Iraq. At the time, I said I didn't trust this president and his advisors. During the war's four long years, nothing has happened to convince me otherwise.”