Peter King: “I would suggest that the lives of our troops are in the hands of General Petraeus, and his credibility is undermined by…”

“I would suggest that the lives of our troops are in the hands of General Petraeus, and his credibility is undermined by this resolution. It is simply not possible to claim that you support the troops while completely disavowing their mission. Our troops in Iraq put their mission first, above all else, even their own safety. How can we even consider passing a resolution stating that we do not support providing them the manpower that they need to accomplish their mission? How does this support the morale? How does this show them that we have confidence in their abilities? As we all know, this resolution has no real legal authority, it is preemptive, purely political, without taking the difficult step of offering an alternative proposal. At first I thought this debate was simply political theater, 3 days of speeches and sound bites. But now we are learning this resolution is simply the first step.”