February 16, 2007

In Support of H.Con. Res. 63: Disapproving of the decision of the President announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.

Delivered on the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 15, 2007

(Washington, DC)—“Mr. Speaker, as I began to consider the comments I would make during the debate on the occupation, escalation, and gravitation of the U.S. military action in Iraq, I concluded that my visit to this well must somehow echo the fret and frustration of the people who sent me to represent them in The People's House.

For more than 132 years, the steamboat Arabia lay beneath the fathoms of the waters of the mighty Missouri River. Not until Bob and Florence Hawley committed their life savings to a massive salvaging operation, did the rusting of this once stately riverboat cease.  Today, the salvaged cargo of this retrieved vessel is on display in Kansas City's Historic River Market. Since I first walked into the Arabia Steamboat Museum in 1992, I have become a serious supporter of salvage operations.  Anything of great value that is lost or damaged is worth salvaging. 

Tomorrow, the United States of America should begin a massive and voter-mandated salvaging operation in Iraq. Yes, as bad as conditions have gotten, there are important and valuable things that can be salvaged. 

A tarnished international image clings to a nation like a shadow to a human being.  It follows a nation to the next world crisis, it cannot be blamed for faulty intelligence, and it spoils opportunities to influence a world desperate for direction.  Henceforth, we must conduct our foreign policy in a manner which salvages our sunken international image. Because of the way we launched a Lone Ranger military action in Iraq, our prestige among the community of nations has surely suffered.  Nothing deflates as fast as a punctured international image. We can salvage our image not only by de-escalating in Iraq, but also by re-establishing desperately needed dialogue with all the sovereign nations in the neighborhood of Iraq. With regard to peace in the Middle East, it has become crystal clear that the U.S. cannot whistle a symphony.  It will take an orchestra of many international players willing to make music in the same key. The days of the international soloist, or a conductor without an orchestra, are past. We must salvage our relationship with the family of nations.
 
We must salvage what is left of our treasury. Mr. Speaker, for most Americans, war does not pay, but it must be paid for. To date, we have appropriated $380 billion for the armed conflict in Iraq, and the President has requested an additional $142 billion in the Fiscal Year (FY) 08 supplemental.  With this amount of money, we could have fully funded No Child Left Behind and the COPS program (which places badly needed police on the streets in high crime neighborhoods). We must salvage respect from our noble veterans who, today, are outraged that they are showered with praise when they are in battle, but blasted with neglect when they return home. Soon enough, they will discover that the President's recently submitted budget raises fees on veterans for their health costs by $355 million in FY08, $2.3 billion over 5 years, and $4.9 billion over ten years. Those who serve—deserve!

We must salvage soldiers. Yes, thousands of brave young U.S. soldiers have been killed, and Iraqis are dying weekly by the hundreds. If this conflict continues, there will be only two classes of young people: one-half in graves and the other half in hospitals.  Some have said that this conflict will last for decades. Nevertheless, that kind of policy, or lack thereof, has caused young Americans to ask, "Will we ever see the last of this war, or will it see the last of us?"

Let me address a part of this debate which has frustrated me because of it's defective logic.  Over and over again, many of my honorable colleagues have stood behind this distinguished desk and warned that the debate on House Concurrent Resolution 63 will demoralize our troops in Iraq.   Nothing could be further from the truth.  I will never accept the premise that U.S. troops are demoralized by the debate in a democracy. The President's stated goal in Iraq is to aid in creating a nation where citizens and public officials can debate in a robust democracy.  And then to denounce debate in The People's House as demeaning or damaging?  My friends, that denigrates the democracy we so proudly extol and that our troops valiantly fight to defend.  We cannot lead others to the light while we stand in the dark.

The Kansas City Chiefs are my team.  The General Manager, Carl Peterson, would never go to the sports editors of the local media and admonish them not to criticize the game plan of Coach Herman Edwards because it will demoralize the players. Such a warning by the General Manager would be ludicrous if not loony. Why?  Because the players of the Kansas City Chiefs are professionals who cannot be so easily defanged.  And friends, neither can the men and women who form the fiercest fighting force in the history of Planet Earth.

After all the ethnic and sectarian human butchering, after all the billions spent, after all the children of God killed, after all the maimed who have been hospitalized, after all the dissenters who have been heard, after all the purple thumbs have been raised, the war drum is still throbbing, the sabers are still rattling and the blood is still flowing. Yet, we can salvage the soul of the nation even though at this hour we seem to have lost our way.  Tomorrow, this Congress must adopt as a bold beckoning to begin a salvage operation!"
 

After four days of debate and 343 Members speaking on the issue, the House passed House Concurrent Resolution 63 this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. EST by a vote of 246-182.

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Belton, Raymore and Peculiar, Missouri. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee.