Sean Reyes: “tonight we start what I hope is the first of a series of honest discussions with the American people, something we have…”

“tonight we start what I hope is the first of a series of honest discussions with the American people, something we have been unable to do up to now. There are a number of issues, a number of problems with where we find ourselves as a Nation tonight. One of the biggest problems is we have not shared the sacrifice. As we speak here tonight, 2,498 of our Nation's finest have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan; 18,000 have been wounded with over 8,500 unable to return back to duty. Do we honor and revere and love our troops? Absolutely. Do we respect and honor the sacrifices that their families have made and are making? Absolutely. Are we concerned about those that are yet to fall, those that are yet to come back with wounds? Absolutely. Part of the debate that we want to have on this particular issue is to make sure that we do not debate other auxiliary things except Iraq. Iraq is the area, ground zero, for the kinds of issues that we are dealing with, the kinds of things that my colleagues have spoken about tonight. The kinds of things we have failed to do as a Congress in exercising our oversight responsibilities. I have been to Iraq six times, to Afghanistan 12. I have visited with our troops. I have seen them. I have shared the environment that they share. As a veteran who served 13 months in Vietnam, which seems like in a different era, I can relate to the kinds of things that are going on in the theater of combat.…”