Bill Delahunt: “And yet, Mr. Speaker, they would criticize those who ask those questions and instead put forth, if you will, a PR…”

“And yet, Mr. Speaker, they would criticize those who ask those questions and instead put forth, if you will, a PR campaign to say what is right in Iraq. But it is time, I believe, to listen to the troops who give us insight. We all know, for example, because we travel abroad and oftentimes we visit our troops, that these trips are very carefully structured so that only those things the civilian leadership of the Department of Defense wants us to hear is provided us. If I could just indulge my two friends for a moment. Back in mid-October there was a report in The Washington Post and it is entitled, 'Many Troops Dissatisfied, Iraq Poll Finds.' A broad survey of U.S. troops in Iraq found that half of those questioned described their unit's morale as low and their training as insufficient and said they do not plan to reenlist. Now, this was not a poll conducted by The Washington Post or the New York Times, or the Los Angeles Times or the Boston Globe. It was a poll that was conducted by the Stars and Stripes newspaper, a newspaper funded by our Pentagon, our Department of Defense. The findings, if I can just go on, the findings drawn from 1,900 questionnaires presented to U.S. servicemembers throughout Iraq conflict with statements by military commanders and Bush administration officials that portray the deployed troops as highly spirited and generally well prepared.”