Bill Delahunt: “But it is a tragic comedy because the lives of young men and women in Iraq are constantly at risk. We all know what we…”

“But it is a tragic comedy because the lives of young men and women in Iraq are constantly at risk. We all know what we have lost in terms of our youth, and we all know what the cost has been in terms of the taxpayers' dollars. What I find extraordinary is, and Sheila Jackson-Lee alluded to it earlier, every Democrat on the International Relations Committee recently, in fact yesterday, signed a letter requesting an oversight hearing in terms of what is going on in Iraq, why the rampant fraud, abuse and corruption. We have been requesting that for 2 years, and you know what, we have never received an answer, not a single hearing. If I were a Republican Member of this House, Mr. Speaker, and I read the op-ed piece by Retired Army Major General Paul Eaton, who was responsible for the training of Iraqi security forces, and received hardly anything in terms of support from the civilian leadership of this Defense Department, if I read what he said, I would insist that we listen to this individual, someone who served his country well, and you know what, they just want to ignore it. But I have to read what General Paul Eaton had to say because I think it is remarkable. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is not competent to lead our Armed Forces. In sum, he has shown himself incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically, and is far more than anyone else responsible for what has happened to our important mission in Iraq. Mr. Rumsfeld must step down.…”