Political Quotes

“not only is the administration engaging in a unilateral nation-building, but I would submit it is a stealth nation-building because they do not want to tell us the cost, the length, how many troops might be needed, how many more civilians of all manner might be needed. I think we need to ask the President three fundamental questions. The first is what is in store in Iraq, what is it going to cost and how long is it going to take? Secondly, what is he doing to build the international support that he has finally acknowledged that we need, as the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) has just referred to. What can we expect him to do to reach out to the international community to get their assets and their troops, if necessary, and their civilian reconstruction experts into the mix. And as the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie) has been saying all night and in private conversation as well, the third question is how soon do we put the Iraqis back in charge, and what is the administration prepared to do to put the Iraqis back in charge? I would respectfully say to the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie) that the Iraqi governing coalition is not ready to run those ministries that have been identified, and I think the gentleman knows that, too. They are not ready. We need the President to tell us when, and I yield to the gentleman.”