Christopher Shays: “before the gentlelady leaves, I want to thank her for I think just a very moving and important message about what…”

“before the gentlelady leaves, I want to thank her for I think just a very moving and important message about what Israelis are faced with. I just thank her for that message. Mr. Speaker, I would like specifically to talk about Iraq and to say that in the 12 visits I have had to Iraq, when I ask Iraqis what their biggest fear is, it almost always is this: ``That you will leave us.'' Then they might say, ``That you will leave us before we can grab hold of democracy.'' Well, I have to say, frankly, that is one of my biggest fears. I am not afraid that we will see the war in Iraq lost in Iraq. I am most fearful that we will see the war in Iraq lost here at home. It would seem a little surprising to say that I have seen significant progress in Iraq, because people see the way we were in April 2003 and they think it was so exciting, and they compare it to April 2003. But, unfortunately, after April 2003 there was a significant decline in what took place in Iraq. First we allowed the looting. And to Iraqis, they would ask me when I would go there, why did you allow people to trash our country? These were not all Iraqis who were doing it. These were people who were looting. And Americans were just standing by and allowed this to happen. And they believed, frankly, that we wanted it to happen, because they believed that we could have prevented it had we wanted to.…”