Cord Byrd: “The news is just on the wires that six British troops have been killed near Basra in Iraq. Every day--every day--brings…”

“The news is just on the wires that six British troops have been killed near Basra in Iraq. Every day--every day--brings us sad tidings of American and/or Allied troops being killed in Iraq. How much longer--how much longer, Mr. President--are our American fighting men and women going to have to remain in harm's way in a foreign land? How much longer are our National guardsmen and women and reservists going to have to be away from home? The President announced not too long ago that major hostilities had ended. Were we told by this administration how long our military forces will be required to run these terrible risks that daily confront them in this biblical land of Mesopotamia, land between the two great rivers? I often asked the question, before the war began, What is going to be the cost? What is the plan? What is the administration's plan? What about the morning after the war ends? No announcement has been made at this point that the war has ended, only that major hostilities no longer exist. And then there were public disagreements as to how many Americans would be needed in Iraq to bring about a safe and secure society. I try to put myself in the place of a father or a husband of one of our military personnel in Iraq. I try to imagine the pain and the suffering on the part of those who wait--who wait--at home for the return of their loved ones.”