Kirk Watson: “I represent the Out of Iraq Caucus, and I support the Murtha resolution. This war of choice so far has cost us the lives…”

“I represent the Out of Iraq Caucus, and I support the Murtha resolution. This war of choice so far has cost us the lives of close to 2,500 American men and women, let alone tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, and has cost us $320 billion and has weakened the United States' prestige and brought our interests and our values into question to a degree not seen since the Berlin Wall divided Europe. It is our failure here in Congress to perform our duty of oversight which has cost America most. From the beginning of the march to war, the President and his advisers blundered into failure after failure. False claims about African uranium and mobile anthrax labs. Unlikely claims of Saddam's leaks to al Qaeda. Stubbornly ignoring the advice of the uniformed military about troop levels. Turning a blind eye to the venal corruption that swallowed $9 billion of Iraqi money, U.N. Oil- for-Food money, without a trace. Shame on us. Mr. Speaker, our Founding Fathers in their wisdom gave us a mechanism, a defense against tyranny called congressional oversight, and it is about time we start doing our duty to the American people by performing that oversight. While I welcome this debate, it is a poor substitute for what we really should have been doing. I call upon you to withdraw this empty resolution, this meaningless, self-congratulatory, fraudulent scam and let us work together to examine our mistakes, fix them, and bring our troops home. Let Iraqis rebuild their own nation.…”