Charles Rangel: “no matter which way we voted on the war resolution, I think we all come together hoping that we have a package for those…”

“no matter which way we voted on the war resolution, I think we all come together hoping that we have a package for those heroic people that fought the war in the Middle East, and that when they come home that we will be able to treat them as heroes and have a veterans package for them. One would think, however, since we have not the slightest clue of how long the occupation is going to take, where we will have to go next in the region, what the total price is going to be to have democracy installed in Iraq, that before we even think about borrowing money and having a tax cut, that we would wait and see in a rational way what would be the cost to the United States of America. It is true we have no friends to go to to help pay for the cost of the war, and we do not even know how long this is going to continue, notwithstanding the fact that we call a victory; but I think that in the short run what we are talking about is that the majority in this House really does not want to see this great Republic provide any public service.”