Burgess Owens: “I hope we are not exporting to Iraq the kind of democracy which would allow a minute and a half only for a…”

“I hope we are not exporting to Iraq the kind of democracy which would allow a minute and a half only for a Representative of more than 650,000 people to speak. We need more time to excuse how we are going to spend $87 billion. We have enough money for our troops to last until next spring. What is the hurry? Sixty percent of the American people are against this $87 billion blank check to an administration that has mismanaged the war against terrorism. Sixty percent. I speak for the majority here. The American people want us to issue a mandated RFP to Secretary Rumsfeld and the White House: give a proposal that makes more sense. We have better proposals that we can put on the table for the expenditure of $87 billion. What could this Nation do with the energy, the brainpower, and the billions of dollars being invested in the great deadly blunder in Iraq? That is what it is, a great deadly blunder. That is what we have done in Iraq. We have put all of our energy, all of our money, all of our effort into a place where we will not increase the safety of the American people; we will not fight terrorism appropriately. With this kind of huge giveaway package, the American people could have more effective initiatives to eliminate terrorism. We could have more money going to Pakistan, for instance, where we have a battle in that country for the hearts and minds of people.…”