Joe Wilson: “Americans are rightfully confident that the prison abusers are a tiny few of the over 300,000 American troops who have…”

“Americans are rightfully confident that the prison abusers are a tiny few of the over 300,000 American troops who have served in the war on terror to protect American families. A more representative symbol of our troops' efforts is the Old Backpack 4 Iraq Program of the 3-178 Field Artillery Battalion of the South Carolina Army National Guard led by Lt. Col. Mark King currently deployed in Iraq. They are collecting used and new backpacks containing school supplies to be provided to Iraqi children. The backpacks can be loaded with pencils, pens, notebooks, crayons, rulers, construction paper, a small teddy bear, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, BAND-AIDS, soap, wash cloth, and a towel. I urge my colleagues to assist in this collection and bring backpacks to the Second Congressional District offices in Washington, West Columbia and Beaufort, along with offices of the Lexington County Chronicle. The first load must be completed by Thursday, May 21, so I can personally take them with me on a delegation to Iraq the next day. We will continue to collect them in the future. In conclusion, God bless our troops, and we will never forget September 11.”