Political Quotes

“I have to tell you that after talking with so many soldiers in Iraq and those who have returned from Iraq, it is desperately urgent that we do it because things are out of control. The fact is that many of these contractors, not all of them, but too many of them are acting with impunity. They tell me that they will work all day trying to communicate and working with the people in a village, trying to understand their customs and the like and show them respect, and then it is undermined by the actions of these security contractors who don't understand the language, who don't show the kind of respect that our soldiers do, who get paid almost three times what our soldiers get paid. It is undermining our mission in Iraq. The fact is that this is not what America is about, conducting oneself with impunity. America is about equal justice under the law. It is about protecting the preciousness of human life, particularly innocent life. It is not about outsourcing our inherent military functions, giving a contractor $1 billion since 2004 and having 200 incidents of misconduct reported by that very contractor. This legislation is necessary. Let's pass it overwhelmingly. Let's send that message to our soldiers.”