Kendrick Meek: “Before the gentleman goes to the memo, you said this thing is not just about Iraq. Let me just say very quickly, again…”

“Before the gentleman goes to the memo, you said this thing is not just about Iraq. Let me just say very quickly, again, you know here in the 30-something Working Group, we love, we don't like, we love third party validators. We love it, Mr. Speaker. We can't get enough of it. It fires us up. We just love it. Here is the deal. Requiring the President to honor the standards of the Department of Defense set for troop readiness, training, equipment before sending troops into battle, 70 percent favor requiring U.S. troops returning from Iraq to have at least 1 year in the U.S. before being redeployed to Iraq. That is a Gallup Poll, USA Today, 3-6-07. It is not a poll we did. This is just a poll that these news organizations have held. Holding Iraqi government to the same standards for progress that the President outlined in announcing the escalation of troops. Seventy-seven percent favored requiring U.S. troops to come home from Iraq if Iraqi leaders failed to meet the promises to reduce the violence there. That is the Gallup Poll-USA Today. This is very, very, very important. Providing urgency needed to support addressing the military medical care crisis at Walter Reed and other hospitals, 76 percent of Americans do not think the Bush administration has done enough to be responsible to take care of the needs of our men and women that are in uniform. Mr. Ryan, the bottom line is that this is not a political speech that we are on the floor giving. This is reality.…”