Byron Dorgan: “last evening President Bush addressed the Nation about the situation in Iraq. I wish to comment briefly about his…”

“last evening President Bush addressed the Nation about the situation in Iraq. I wish to comment briefly about his request for $87 billion in supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2004 request that he will soon send to Congress. I believe every single penny requested to support the troops who are now serving in Iraq ought to be appropriated by the Congress. When America sends its sons and daughters to war, it should provide all that is necessary for them to do their job, to protect themselves, and to carry out their missions. So speaking for myself, I believe every single penny requested and necessary for the soldiers who represent this country in the Iraqi theater and in Afghanistan and other areas must be made available. There are not a lot of good choices in Iraq. We understand that. This is a difficult situation. But this country cannot now leave Iraq. We are opening mass graves, football-field-size graves with 10 to 12,000 skeletons in them. We know that what happened in Iraq was genocide. We also know that if we leave today, there will immediately be massive numbers of murders and revenge killings. We simply cannot allow that to happen. We are faced with a circumstance in which there are not a lot of good choices, but we must be there at this point.”