Michael Burgess: “this morning it is with a sense of profound sadness that I address the House of Representatives, and usually it is not…”

“this morning it is with a sense of profound sadness that I address the House of Representatives, and usually it is not so. I cherish the time that I have been able to spend here representing my District. Mr. Speaker, my son is a member of the Air National Guard of the 136th Wing out of the old Carswell Air Force Base in Dallas. He is a staff sergeant, but I picked up the paper this morning like so many of my friends, and we see that the leaders on the other side have proclaimed the war unwinnable, and I think of all of the brave young men and women that I saw when I was in Iraq two times in the past year, and I cannot help but feel a profound sense of sadness that they feel that their leaders have abandoned them. Now, we are all outraged and saddened by the photos of mistreatment of the Iraqi prisoners we have seen on our television screens. The abusers will be punished. The commanding officers will likely have their careers in ruins, but I just want to caution the leaders on the other side, indeed the candidates who are running for the highest office in this land, that this response is reminiscent of the response that a candidate named Kerry, 30 years ago had before the Senate committee where he condemned all of our troops in Vietnam. This is not the case of our brave men and women over in Iraq today.”