Kendrick Meek: “I will tell you this: It would be good for politics. But, do you know something? I have to go back to the numbers. The…”

“I will tell you this: It would be good for politics. But, do you know something? I have to go back to the numbers. The numbers speak for themselves. The reason why this is serious business and the reason why week after week we come back and the reason why we have a Committee on Armed Services, hopefully that will have hearings that would hold the higher echelons, and I mean the secretary and undersecretary and everyone over at the Pentagon that is wearing a shirt and tie and suit that is appointed, that are calling the shots for men and women. They say well, you know, we wait to hear from our commanders in the field. We do not make those decisions. Mr. Speaker, I remember a day when everyone at the Pentagon took credit for what was going on. Now it is like, well, we are waiting to hear from this general and this other general, and, until we hear from the field, we are not going to do anything. Mr. Speaker, 897 and climbing. A coalition of troops that one may say is over 132,000 American troops, enlisted, Reserve, National Guard. And, guess what? Over 6,000 individuals that did not say, hey, I am ready to go. They were called up and sent. And also 4,000 troops were relocated from other parts of the world that we need them to go to Iraq. The last I checked on 9/11, it was all about the Taliban and al Qaeda. And, guess what? They are in Afghanistan doing what they want to do. Yes, we commend the troops. Do not get me wrong.…”