Political Quotes

“As the chairman knows, I had the opportunity to visit Iraq several months ago. While there is no question what we saw there, there were six of us Members of Congress with other military personnel attached to us. We saw a war zone. There was no question about that. But we also saw the rebuilding of the country; and that is something that, unfortunately, people only see the pictures from the war zone, but they do not see the fact that the electricity is coming on, that the water is being restored, that there is adequate supplies of petroleum products in the country. We saw a lot of traffic on the street. For instance, in northern Iraq, in Kirkuk where we were, we even saw some new construction. We were told there was plenty of food available in the country. As we flew around the country, not only in the C-130 transport planes at 18,000 feet but in Black Hawk helicopters at 150 feet, we flew over a lot of agricultural areas of the country that were starting the winter planting. We did not have, when we were there, the opportunity to visit a school or a hospital; but certainly we have been told, as you know, about the progress in refurbishing those critical institutions for Iraqi education and health care. So these are things that show where progress is being made to this day and certainly it was when I was there in November. The other thing I think is really important to stress, and I think you may want to add to this, Mr. Chairman, is the morale of our troops.”