[lit-ideas] Patrick Murphy, 8th district, Pennsylvannia tells it like it is

From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 22:18:15 +0900
One of the most moving speeches in today's House debate over Iraq
policy was given by Patrick Murphy, Fighting Dem, elected in November
to his first term as Representative from the 8th district in
Pennsylvania.

----------------------------------------------

  I take the floor today not as a Democrat or Republican, but as an
Iraq war veteran who was a Captain with the 82nd Airborne Division in
Baghdad.

  I speak with a heavy heart for my fellow paratrooper Specialist
Chad Keith, Specialist James Lambert and 17 other brave men who I
served with who never made it home.

  I rise to give voice to hundreds of thousands of patriotic
Pennsylvanians and veterans across the globe who are deeply troubled
by the President's call to escalate the number of American troops in
Iraq.

  I served in Baghdad from June of 2003 to January of 2004. Walking
in my own combat boots, I saw first hand this Administration's failed
policy in Iraq.

  I led convoys up and down "Ambush Alley" in a Humvee without doors
- convoys that Americans still run today because too many Iraqis are
still sitting on the sidelines.

  I served in al-Rashid, Baghdad which, like Philadelphia, is home to
1.5 million people. While there are 7,000 Philadelphia police officers
serving like my father in Philadelphia, protecting its citizens, there
were only 3,500 of us in al-Rashid, Baghdad.

  Mr. Speaker, the time for more troops was four years ago. But this
President ignored military experts like General Shinseki & General
Zinni, who in 2003, called for several hundred thousand troops to
secure Iraq.

  Now Mr. Speaker, our President again is ignoring military leaders.
Patriots like General Colin Powell, like General Abizaid, and members
of the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group who oppose this escalation

  But most importantly, Mr. Speaker, Congresses in the past did not
stand up to the President and his policies. But today I stand with my
other military veterans some who were just elected - like Sergeant
Major Tim Walz, Admiral Joe Sestak, and Commander Chris Carney. We
stand together to tell this Administration that we are against this
escalation and that Congress will no longer give the President a blank
check.

  Mr. Speaker, close to my heart is a small park on the corner of
24th and Aspen Streets in Philadelphia. This is the Patrick Ward
Memorial Park.

  Patrick Ward was a door gunner in the U.S. Army during Vietnam. He
was killed serving the country that he loved. He was the type of guy
that neighborhoods devote street corners to and parents name their
children after - including my parents, Marge and Jack Murphy.

  Mr. Speaker, I ask you - how many more street-corner memorials are
we going to have for this war?

  This is what the President's proposal does - it sends more of our
best and bravest to die refereeing a civil war.

  Just a month ago Sgt. Jae Moon from my district in Levittown, Bucks
County was killed in Iraq.

  You know, a few blocks away from this great chamber, when you walk
in the snow, is the Vietnam Memorial, where half of the soldiers
listed on that wall died after America's leaders knew our strategy
would not work.

  It was immoral then and it would be immoral now to engage in the
same delusion.

  That's why Mr. Speaker, sending more troops into civil war is the
wrong strategy. We need to win the War on Terror and reasonable people
may disagree on what to do, but most will agree that it is immoral to
send young Americans to fight and die in a conflict without a real
strategy for success.

  The President's current course is not resolute, it is reckless.

  That is why I will vote to send a message to our President that
staying the course is no longer an option.

  Mr. Speaker, its time for a new direction in Iraq. From my time
serving with the 82d Airborne Division in Iraq, it became clear that
in order to succeed there, we must tell the Iraqis that we will not be
there forever. Yet, three years now since I have been home, it's still
Americans leading convoys up and down Ambush Alley and securing Iraqi
street corners.

  We must make Iraqis stand up for Iraq - and set a timeline to start
bringing our heroes home.

  That's why I am proud to be an original cosponsor - with Senator
Barack Obama and fellow paratrooper, Congressman Mike Thompson - of
the Iraq De-Escalation Act - a moderate and responsible plan to start
brining our troops home, mandating a surge in diplomacy, and
refocusing our efforts on the War on Terror in Afghanistan.

  Mr. Speaker, our country needs a real plan to get our troops out of
Iraq, to protect our homeland and secure and refocus our efforts on
capturing and killing Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

  There are over 130,000 American servicemen and women serving
bravely in Iraq. Unfortunately, thousands more are on the way.

  Mr. Speaker, an open-ended strategy that ends in more faceless
road-side bombs in Baghdad and more street-corner memorials in
America, is not one that I will support.

  I yield back the remainder of my time.

--------------------------------

I stand with Patrick Murphy.

--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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[lit-ideas] Patrick Murphy, 8th district, Pennsylvannia tells it like it is

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