Jim Webb: “There is a lot of emotion in the Congress today, as there is in the country, on this issue. There is a lot of rhetoric…”

“There is a lot of emotion in the Congress today, as there is in the country, on this issue. There is a lot of rhetoric flying back and forth. Some of it is inaccurate. The first thing we need to say is that this is not an issue of the Congress denying anything to the people of the Armed Forces. We are exercising our constitutional power to appropriate. We are sending the President a $100 billion check. If he chooses not to cash that check, it is up to him to come up with the reasons why, not us. There is also a lot of rhetoric going around over the past couple of days about defeatism and surrender and accusations of betraying the troops. We need to calm down a bit. There is no one in this Congress who wants anything more than to support those people who have been put into harm's way. I believe people should be very careful on this floor to discuss political motivations of our military which reflect very closely the political views of the country at large. Poll after poll shows that. In respect to accusations about defeatism and surrender, the question becomes: Defeat by whom and surrender to whom? We won this war 4 years ago. The question is, When do we end the occupation? Iraq has been in turmoil for thousands of years. It will be in turmoil of one kind or another long after we leave. The U.S. military is not going to change the societal makeup of Iraq.”