Bill Pascrell: “Iraq is too important to pull up our stakes now. We saw in Somalia, with the withdrawal of the United States, it soon…”

“Iraq is too important to pull up our stakes now. We saw in Somalia, with the withdrawal of the United States, it soon reverted to its precolonial past consisting of a mosaic of independent clans with different laws and rulers, each with its own militia. We pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, we pulled out of Iraq in 1991, and what happened? I imagine that somewhere right now, Mr. Chairman, former Presidential economic adviser, Larry Lindsey, is enjoying the resurgence of his reputation. After he predicted that we would have to spend $100 billion to $200 billion in Iraq, on September 15, 2002 he made that statement, he was dismissed from the White House. If this latest supplemental is enacted, the United States will have spent close to $157 billion on military operations. Excluding that one moment of candor from Mr. Lindsey, this is indeed a far cry from the talking points. And this is more than talking points, these are faces of American soldiers. Iraq is important, Mr. Chairman. The attitude of the administration must change regardless of how this vote comes out today.”