Steve Cohen: “back in February when this Congress started the 110th, there was a proposal up here, a resolution that passed with…”

“back in February when this Congress started the 110th, there was a proposal up here, a resolution that passed with mostly Democrat support, very few Republicans, to say we supported the troops but we opposed the surge or the escalation. Since that time, we have put 20,000 or 30,000 more troops into Iraq, and since that time we have had some of the deadliest months that we have incurred in this failed war in the Middle East. As time has gone on, we have seen Senators Voinovich; Lamar Alexander from my home State; Lugar; and others on the Republican side in the Senate come forth and say we need a change of direction. The handwriting has been on the wall in both cloakrooms. The handwriter got to the Democratic cloakroom a lot sooner than apparently the handwriter got to the Republican cloakroom. Either that, or the optometrist hasn't made it over to the other side. But the handwriting is on the wall, and in the interim there are American men and women dying needlessly. Over 3,600 have died; many, many, many, many more casualties, and the cost to this country will be great. While I was home during the home workweek, I saw a lady who told me her son has been at Desert Storm. He was still in the military. He had been in Iraq once before. And she told me he told her, Mother, I am proud to fight for my country. I have done it twice. But there is no purpose over there, there is no reason to be over there. We need to come home.”