Debbie Dingell: “I think this debate is pointing out something very important: This is a rich man's war and it is a poor man's fight. We…”

“I think this debate is pointing out something very important: This is a rich man's war and it is a poor man's fight. We have some of the finest young people in the world over there in the Mideast that are dying, better than 1,000 of them, and better than 8,000 have been wounded; but about 20,000 have had to be MedEvac'd out of there because of injuries and things of that kind. We do not have enough troops in the field to prevail. We had enough to win a war, but we do not have enough to win the peace, and we do not have enough people to police and to control a situation which is getting worse and worse and worse. The question is, if you are not going to have a draft, and I am not going to sport legislation, but how do you propose over here to get our people the troops that they need, to get the levels of force that they need to win? It is easy to stand around here and talk about, oh, how we must support our troops, it sounds very patriotic. But let us get some people over there. Let us get the necessary levels of force. Let us get the equipment that we need over there for our people. I would note, there is not enough equipment like body armor. There is not enough armor for the Humvees. Our people are dying in good part because of this, and they are dying in good part because there are not enough of them to properly address the problem of a clever and well-managed insurgency which is killing thousands of young Americans.”