Political Quotes

“I thank my good friend the distinguished minority leader of the House Appropriations Committee. Mr. Chairman, a lot of us on this side and virtually everyone on the other side are going to vote for this bill, but we should do so with considerable reservations. First of all, two-thirds of it goes to fund the Iraq War; even though, after 4 years, there is still no end in sight. You wonder if this is not more good money going after bad or at least after a mission that has yet to be defined. We will now have spent $490 billion from fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2007. Mr. Chairman, the cost of the entire Vietnam War, adjusted for inflation, was exactly the same cost that we have now appropriated. Mr. Chairman, the most credible poll that was just taken showed that three-quarters of the American troops believe that we should withdraw within the year, and over half said it should be within 6 months. Even more telling, a poll that was conducted on January 28 of this year among Iraqi citizens showed that 82 percent of Sunnis and 69 percent of Shi'a want U.S. troops withdrawn immediately. These are the people that we are trying to save for democracy, and in fact, the majority of both Shi'a and Sunnis believe that the U.S. will hurt, that is their word ``hurt,'' Iraq over the next 5 years unless it withdraws immediately. Mr. Chairman, we need an exit strategy that is going to work and that has the support of the people we're trying to help.…”