I must admit I've given up following the daily ins and outs of Congress, but I do believe that Reid and Pelosi and the rest of them are playing it all way too soft. The people voted in Dems to get us out of Iraq and establish accountability, and the Dems - with minor exceptions by the likes of the excellent Russ Feingold, simply haven't been doing it. Maybe they never will. Maybe they're too much in the pockets of lobbyists. But if they really want to win, to get things done, and to get their approval ratings back up they've got to get tough. And here's a joint speech I'd like to hear.
Mr. President, we've made a mistake in continuing to fund your failed war in Iraq. But we now recognize that mistake and will not continue it.
Our heroic troops are in a senseless meatgrinder, dying and being maimed daily, for no other purpose than to serve your vanity and to try to steal Iraq's oil for America and its allies. The American people did not sign on to send our brave troops to die for Iraqi oil. Mr. President, bring out troops home now.
We will provide no more funding for this disaster of a war. And to your claims that our failure to fund the war is somehow a failure to support the troops, that's a disgusting lie. It is you, Mr. President, who fails to support the troops by keeping them in the middle of a civil war in which our troops die horrible deaths and are disfigured daily, while, despite their heroic efforts, will never be able to resolve a problem that can be resolved only politically, not militarily.
Before the invasion of Iraq, General Shinseki told you it would take hundreds of thousands of troops to secure peace after the regime of Saddam Hussein was ended. Your administration mocked him and retired him in disgrace. Now our troops, though heroic, are being killed and maimed as a result of your administration's poor judgment, because we simply do not have enough troops to end the nightmare that your administration has created. And it's not only the American people that want us out of Iraq -- 70% of the people of Iraq want the U.S. to leave Iraq, and over 50% of Iraqis believe that American soldiers are legitimate targets as occupiers of their country. Our troops did yeoman's work in overthrowing Saddam Hussein, but now the rest must be done by the Iraqis themselves. We have no business being there.
Should you fail to begin redeployment of the troops out of Iraq immediately, we will have no choice but to begin immediate impeachment proceedings. We have no doubt that your conduct of this war, from dishonesty about Saddam Hussein's nonexistent weapons of mass destruction to his nonexistent nuclear program to your permission of torture to your continuing to allow our troops to die to serve no end but your own vanity and and the theft of Iraqi oil constitutes High Crimes and Misdemeanors.
It's over, Mr. President. We realize that the American People elected us to end this disastrous and senseless war, and end it we shall.
As to members of Congress' willingness to stand with our leadership, let them all stand and be counted. We hope all members will vote with us, but let those who vote to continue allowing our heroic troops to be senselessly killed and maimed by both Shia and Sunni in Iraq's civil war be counted as well. And we will be sure that come November 2008, the American people will remember how our members voted.