Haley Stevens: “I am informed there are about 22 million people in Iraq. They lived under a despotic regime, and we have destroyed that…”

“I am informed there are about 22 million people in Iraq. They lived under a despotic regime, and we have destroyed that regime. There are still pockets of terrorists, pockets of resistance to the change to a new form of government. But those who support only the military expenditures are telling us: Let's just occupy Iraq. No one is saying: Let's go home. No one is saying: Let's just bring our forces out and cut and run. We are not going to do that. If we put in the money, $66 billion for the year 2004, that is the amount of money that was calculated that we need for the military, provided we start bringing them home--we have already brought some troops home, and I am one who hopes we will be bringing more troops home this year and early next year. But they will be replaced by security forces, those trained in the Iraqi Army, those trained to be security forces. We do not want to train people to be forces of occupation.”