C. W. Bill Young: “I didn't intend to speak on this until I read the bill, and I didn't have much chance to read the bill because it didn't…”

“I didn't intend to speak on this until I read the bill, and I didn't have much chance to read the bill because it didn't go through any committee, and it was only introduced last night. But this bill is an illusion. It is not what it is proposed to be. It is one of those situations where you giveth on one hand, and you take away with the other hand. I am looking specifically at subsection (e). After saying that we have to remove our troops out of Iraq within so many days, subsection (e) says, ``the Secretary of Defense may retain''--in other words, keep troops in Iraq--``for the purpose of providing security for the embassy, the U.S. embassy''; we do that now. And ``other United States diplomatic missions in Iraq''; other diplomatic missions in Iraq; we do that now. ``Protecting American citizens''; we do that now. ``Including members of the Armed Services serving in roles consistent with customary diplomatic positions''; we do that now. Listen to this one: ``engaging in targeted special actions limited in duration and scope to killing or capturing members of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations''. My goodness, that is what we are doing now. ``Training and equipping members of the Iraqi Security Forces.'' That is what we are doing now. ``And may retain in Iraq members of the Army Corps of Engineers and Defense contractors engaged in reconstruction projects in Iraq.'' We are doing that now.”