Joel Hefley: “we have just heard from two giants of this body, men that we are all very, very proud of. If we had any sense, we would…”

“we have just heard from two giants of this body, men that we are all very, very proud of. If we had any sense, we would all sit down right now and take the vote; and I will give up my time if everybody else will give up theirs, and we will vote. I am told no, that is not going to work. So let me try to be brief. Both of these gentlemen expressed the conflicting views in a most sincere way, and I think we respect both of them. But, Mr. Speaker, I do rise today in opposition to H. Res. 571. I want us to withdraw the moment the job is done, and that is what our troops are telling us, too. They want to stay there until it is done. That is what most of the Iraqi people tell us, do not leave us until it is done. Mr. Speaker, there are some out there insisting that the mission on Iraq has been a failure, and our presence in Iraq has not been properly run, and we are not winning the peace. Frankly, I do not think that is true, and it only serves to lower the morale of the men and women fighting in Iraq while encouraging the terrorists who hate America. The fact is those who assert that the Iraq policy is failing frankly fail to recognize the many successes that have occurred on a daily basis over there. What we are talking about is fighting terror and liberating a people. Look at just the political successes. They have had two elections, and those two elections, most of those people had never voted in a free election in their entire lives.…”