Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, the Republicans in this House have done a heinous thing: they have insulted one of the deans of this House in an unthinkable and unconscionable way.

They took his words and contorted them; they took his heartfelt sentiments and spun

them. They took his resolution and deformed it: in a cheap effort to silence dissent in the House of Representatives.

The Republicans should be roundly criticized for this reprehensible act. They have perpetrated a fraud on the House of Representatives just as they have defrauded the American people.

By twisting the issue around, the Republicans are trying to set a trap for the Democrats. A ``no'' vote for this Resolution will obscure the fact that there is strong support for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. I am voting ``yes'' on this Resolution for an orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq despite the convoluted motives behind the Republican Resolution. I am voting to support our troops by bringing them home now in an orderly withdrawal.

Sadly, If we call for an end to the occupation, some say that we have no love for the Iraqi people, that we would abandon them to tyrants and thugs.

Let us consider some history. The Republicans make great hay about Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons against the Iranians and the Kurds. But when that attack was made in 1988, it was Democrats who moved a resolution to condemn those attacks, and the Reagan White House quashed the bill in the Senate, because at that time the Republicans considered Saddam one of our own. So in 1988, who abandoned the Iraqi people to tyrants and thugs?

In voting for this bill, let me be perfectly clear that I am not saying the United States should exit Iraq without a plan. I agree with Mr. Murtha that security and stability in Iraq should be pursued through diplomacy. I simply want to vote yes to an orderly withdrawal from Iraq. And let me explain why.

Prior to its invasion, Iraq had not one (not one!) instance of suicide attacks in its history. Research shows a 100 percent correlation between suicide attacks and the presence of foreign combat troops in a host country. And experience also shows that suicide attacks abate when foreign occupation troops are withdrawn. The U.S. invasion and occupation has destabilized Iraq and Iraq will only return to stability once this occupation ends.

We must be willing to face the fact that the presence of U.S. combat troops is itself a major inspiration to the forces attacking our troops. Moreover, we must be willing to acknowledge that the forces attacking our troops are able to recruit suicide attackers because suicide attacks are largely motivated by revenge for the loss of loved ones. And Iraqis have lost so many loved ones as a result of America's two wars against Iraq.

In 1996, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on CBS that the lives of 500,000 children dead from sanctions were ``worth the price'' of containing Saddam Hussein. When pressed to defend this reprehensible position she went on to explain that she did not want U.S. Troops to have to fight the Gulf War again. Nor did I. But what happened? We fought a second Gulf War. And now over 2,000 American soldiers lie dead. And I expect the voices of concern for Iraqi civilian casualties, whose deaths the Pentagon likes to brush aside as ``collateral damage'' are too few, indeed. A report from Johns Hopkins suggests that over 100,000 civilians have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, most of them violent deaths and most as ``collateral damage'' from U.S. forces. The accuracy of the 100,000 can and should be debated. Yet our media, while quick to cover attacks on civilians by insurgent forces in Iraq, have given us a blackout on Iraqi civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. combat forces.

Yet let us remember that the United States and its allies imposed a severe policy of sanctions on the people of Iraq from 1990 to 2003. UNICEF and World Health Organization studies based on infant mortality studies showed a 500,000 increase in mortality of Iraqi children under 5 over trends that existed before sanctions. From this, it was widely assumed that over 1 million Iraqi deaths for all age groups could be attributed to sanctions between 1990 and 1998. And not only were there 5 more years of sanctions before the invasion, but the war since the invasion caused most aid groups to leave Iraq. So for areas not touched by reconstruction efforts, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated further. How many more Iraqi lives have been lost through hunger and deprivation since the occupation?

And what kind of an occupier have we been? We have all seen the photos of victims of U.S. torture in Abu Ghraib prison. That's where Saddam used to send his political enemies to be tortured, and now many Iraqis quietly, cautiously ask: ``So what has changed?''

A recent video documentary confirms that U.S. forces used white phosphorous against civilian neighborhoods in the U.S. attack on Fallujah. Civilians and insurgents were burned alive by these weapons. We also now know that U.S. forces have used MK77, a napalm-like incendiary weapon, even though napalm has been outlawed by the United Nations.

With the images of tortured detainees, and the images of Iraqi civilians burned alive by U.S. incendiary weapons now circulating the globe, our reputation on the world stage has been severely damaged.

If America wants to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, we as a people must be willing to face the pain and death and suffering we have brought to the Iraqi people with bombs, sanctions and occupation, even if we believe our actions were driven by the most altruistic of reasons. We must acknowledge our role in enforcing the policy of sanctions for 12 years after the extensive 1991 bombing in which we bombed infrastructure targets in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.

We must also be ready to face the fact that the United States once provided support for the tyrant we deposed in the name of liberating the Iraqi people. These are events that our soldiers are too young to remember. I believe our young men and women in uniform are very sincere in their belief that their sacrifice is made in the name of helping the Iraqi people. But it is not they who set the policy. They take orders from the Commander-in-Chief and the Congress. It is we who bear the responsibility of weighing our decisions in a historical context, and it is we who must consider the gravest decision of whether or not to go to war based upon the history, the facts, and the truth.

Sadly, however, our country is at war in Iraq based on a lie told to the American people. The entire war was based premised on a sales pitch--that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction menacing the United States--that turned out to be a lie.

I have too many dead soldiers in my district; too many from my home state. Too many homeless veterans on our streets and in our neighborhoods.

America has sacrificed too many young soldiers' lives, too many young soldiers' mangled bodies, to the Bush war machine.

I will not vote to give one more soldier to the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney war machine. I will not give one more dollar for a war riddled with conspicuous profiteering.

Tonight I speak as one who has at times been the only Member of this Body at antiwar demonstrations calling for withdrawal. And I won't stop calling for withdrawal.

I was opposed to this war before there was a war; I was opposed to the war during the war; and I am opposed to this war now--even though it's supposed to be over.

A vote on war is the single most important vote we can make in this House. I understand the feelings of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who might be severely conflicted by the decision we have to make here tonight. But the facts of U.S. occupation of Iraq are also very clear. The occupation is headed down a dead end because so long as U.S. combat forces patrol Iraq, there will be an Iraqi insurgency against it.

I urge that we pursue an orderly withdrawal from Iraq and pursue, along with our allies, a diplomatic solution to the situation in Iraq, supporting the aspirations of the Iraqi people through support for democratic processes.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to enter the following into the Congressional Record:

The 9/11 Commission Report One Year Later

Mr. Speaker, I wish to enter the following into the Congressional Record:

The 9/11 Commission Report One Year Later

A CITIZENS' RESPONSE: DId THE COMMISSION GET IT RIGHT?

A Congressional Briefing Convened on the First Anniversary of the

Release of the 9/11 Commission Report, Friday, July 22, 2005

I will not take much time but I want to change the thrust just a little bit because I want to talk for a half minute about our education President.

Now, it is my understanding, and I hope the gentleman will correct me where I am wrong and you will amplify what needs to be amplified where we are right, but our education President has underfunded No Child Left Behind by $39 billion. Now, he has also cut technical education, cut student loans, cut the grants available to students who want to go to college. And so basically they, the people who are making public policy in the Congress these days, are a bit out of touch with the way the rest of us live. We, our children, and those of us who are still students, rely on the funding that is available in the budget so that we can have the workforce for tomorrow being prepared today, and that is not the case.

But the one thing I just want to say is, it is my understanding that all of these cuts in education can be likened to a student tax, and so I would like for the gentleman to amplify on that but I would just like to say that we had a minor, modest victory in the State of Georgia just yesterday because the courts in the State of Georgia turn back a legislative initiative put forward by the Republican controlled legislature and our Republican Governor. That was the much maligned the Voter ID bill.

This Voter ID bill would have put a two-tiered structure in place for people being able to vote. That was a poll tax and the poll tax was turned back. Now we have got a student tax, a learning tax.

Could the gentleman please talk to us about the impact of these cuts on the ability of us to prepare our young people for tomorrow's jobs but also how this becomes a learning tax on young people?

Madam Speaker, it is amazing to me that American troops can get sick off Halliburton food, yet

Halliburton continues to get contract after contract after contract after contract. But when tons of British food rations are provided to the Hurricane Katrina survivors, all they get is red tape from the FDA and the Bush administration. For crying out loud.

If the report is to be believed, tons of British aid donated to help Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned by the Americans because U.S. red tape is stopping it from reaching the hungry evacuees. But these are the same food rations that are eaten by the British troops in Iraq, and the USDA has condemned them as unfit for human consumption while Halliburton continues to serve unfit rations to our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is a crying shame. When will the incompetence end?

Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry. I do not want to take away the time of the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I would like to know if indeed it is a fact that the Vice President of the United States receives a salary in the form of deferred compensation from Halliburton which, in turn, received a no-bid contract to do the cleanup work for Katrina, are we prevented from saying that on the floor of the House?

I thank the Speaker. That means we can speak about these kinds of things.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to commend my sister colleague, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), for introducing comprehensive poverty legislation of which I am a proud cosponsor.

It is high time that we talk about poverty; and when we talk about poverty, I would like for everyone to see this beautiful black face, this beautiful black baby, who has a tear rolling down her cheek, which epitomizes in so many ways the conditions of Black America which now have been revealed for all of the world to see.

But I came down here not to take very much time, but to say to my sister colleague that she said she was not going to play the race card.

Well, you do not have to, because the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker) already has, if the reports from The Wall Street Journal are correct. And so I would just like to read into the Record what it is that The Wall Street Journal says that the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker) had to say.

He said, according to The Wall Street Journal: ``We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We could not do it, but God did.''

Now, when the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker) made that comment, he was talking about that baby. And there are some of us, some of my colleagues outside of this body, who are very concerned about what the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker) had to say.

But I also know that the mainstream media do not always get it right. So I would like to hear publicly from the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker) to see if this is exactly what he said and what he meant.

Because, if it is, I can guarantee you there will be many people who will have something to say to him. The public policy we make here is all about attitudes, and when you have got this kind of an attitude making public policy, you cannot help but have tear drops rolling down the faces of America's children.

Mr. Speaker, On September 2, 2005, I made the following statement at a press conference in Atlanta, GA and I submit it for the Record.

I thank the Mayor and my colleagues for convening this

press conference to express solidarity in our concern for the

plight of Katrina's victims. The message today is that while

we are watching this tragedy unfold, we are not sitting idly

by.

The Office of the Fourth Congressional District has adopted

Baton Rouge Mosque #65 which is housing 100 New Orleans

residents. They need dry goods, food, and hygiene kits.

Anyone interested in helping us help these 100 people, please

bring donations to our Congressional office as soon as

possible.

As we open our hearts, pocketbooks, and homes to Katrina's

victims, it is now imperative that the Government do its

part.

To see it coming is not enough. The Administration appears

flat-footed as its actions have not been fast enough and

remain slower than most Americans can comprehend. A

responsive government would:

1. Maximize the use of U.S. Customs air assets to drop

badly needed food and supplies to the people. Sadly, I have

been told by an investigative journalist that precious

Customs air assets are available, but are not being used to

ferry badly-needed food, radios, and supplies. We dropped

food in Afghanistan, certainly we can drop food in the United

States.

2. Tell the people what they can expect from their

leadership in authority. Clear lines of authority should have

been established and the people informed of what the

government was going to do to alleviate their suffering. Much

of the confusion and chaos we are witnessing is due to

ineffective communication of the plan of action to the people

in the affected areas.

3. Preposition necessities. It is clear that the

Administration failed to preposition hospital ships, pumps,

and supplies, in the face of a Category 5 hurricane barreling

toward the Gulf States. The Administration is just now

mobilizing to satisfy the massive and desperate need. And

sadly, 40 percent of the Mississippi National Guard are in

Iraq; 35 percent of the Louisiana National Guard are in

Iraq; for Florida, the figure is 25 percent; Alabama has

23 percent of its Guard stationed in Iraq.

4. Be careful of the language used. What media bright light

decided to term the New Orleans residents as ``refugees''? It

is insulting and should be stopped immediately. And, how dare

anyone talk down to a devastated population while Bunnatine

Greenhouse sits busted from her job because she dared to pull

the plug on Halliburton's looting of the U.S. Treasury of

billions of dollars. The President asks for patience and

lends Katrina's victims his thoughts and prayers. That is not

enough given the magnitude of the problem. And FEMA should

not now tell victims to take responsibility, but must instead

deal with its own responsibility to care for a devastated

population. And finally, talk from Speaker Hastert and others

questioning the value of rebuilding the City of New Orleans

should be arrested immediately.

5. Recalibrate its values and priorities. New Orleans is

not just a home for hundreds of thousands; its ports form the

heart of America's domestic and international commerce, and

our oil and gas nerve center. Shame on this Administration

for slashing money to protect New Orleans and shifting it to

Halliburton and Iraq. Shame on this Administration for not

curtailing our dependency on overconsumption of oil; and for

not recognizing global warming. Shame on this Administration

for failing to take care of the American people.

6. Offer maximum assistance to people in need. Houston's

Astrodome has already reached its capacity. Atlanta has the

capacity to give and a desire to share.

Thank you.

Madam Speaker, I have got a lot of papers and a lot of posters. One hour will in no way accommodate all that needs to be said tonight about the tremendous challenges that face our country today, including how we conduct ourselves in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

While my remarks tonight in no way should be construed as encompassing all of my thoughts on the very important issues that I discuss tonight, just mark this down as a start.

First, let me say that I am especially proud of the way the people of my district and of this country have wrapped their arms around the victims of Hurricane Katrina. At this time, we have a healthy contingent of expert Georgians in the traumatized gulf States, and we have received thousands of Katrina's victims into our cities, churches, and homes.

I have come to this floor on many occasions. People around the world have commented on how shocked they are to see such poverty in America. While cities and localities pass anti-panhandling measures that criminalize begging tourists and visitors in downtown areas asking for help, Hurricane Katrina washed away America's veneer of populist opportunity, a country that has overcome its racist, slave-holding past, a country ready for world dominion because it has learned how to uplift the human spirit at home.

Katrina, in images as stark and undeniable as could be, has laid bare the Republican lie that its policies promote growth and prosperity for all Americans and leave no child behind, while Katrina put into our living rooms and the world's living rooms the cruel hoax that has been played on America and those who love America by the ruthless sybaritic power player elites who are as responsible for the conditions endured by too many Americans as they are for the embarrassing and breathtaking incompetencies we all witnessed just before Labor Day.

Almost 30,000 New Orleans households live on less than $10,000 per year. More babies and young kids are going hungry in our country. Eleven percent of our families experienced hunger in 2003. One million more Americans are living in poverty today than there were 1 year ago. Income distribution has become obscenely skewed toward the rich during the Bush years. In Manhattan, the poor make two cents for each dollar that the rich make. This places Manhattan on par with Namibia for income disparity.

Interestingly, in the financial capital of the world, New York City, the Bronx is the poorest urban county in the country, and New York State is being depleted of its middle class.

America is being depleted of its middle class. Over 50 percent of America's income goes to the top 20 percent of households. With even more tax cuts for the wealthy on the horizon, coupled with real budget cuts for the programs that are forced to take care of more and more Americans, the situation can only be expected to get worse, sadly.

Incomes for 95 percent of American households are flat or falling. Only the top 5 percent are experiencing the growth that we hear the Republicans talk about.

Now, I have got tons of documentation to offer for all of the statistics that we cite, but let me take a moment and reiterate where we are for all the people who are listening tonight.

Let me recall for just a moment the America they might not know but that more of us are coming all too well to know.

I will start with this poster, which depicts a black man hanging from a tree. The caption says ``The body of Robert McNair is seen here as residents and schoolchildren in the Georgetown community saw it between about 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. last Thursday.'' This was on the front page of the Jackson, Mississippi, Advocate the week of October 23 to 29 when I was in Mississippi for a speaking engagement. This was what I saw.

Sadly, it is what the children in the neighborhood saw, a black man hanging from a tree. A lynching. That is 2003. I am not talking about 1903. This is 2003. Sadly, in 2005, we have two lynchings being investigated in the State of Georgia, my home State, and both of them are supposed to have been suicides. In this story it was reported that this poor Mr. Robert McNair committed suicide, hanging from a tree.

When I come to the floor and do these monthly talks, some way or other we get around to the state of black America because it is important for us to understand that there are many Americans, and some of those Americans we do not see and we do not know. But we need to know how all Americans live so that we can make sure that no American is left behind.

On some indices, even today, it is true that the racial disparities are worse today than they were at the time of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. People would say it is not true, but, alas, it is true. And, of course, the statistics document that sad truth. United for a Fair Economy gives us these statistics in its State of the Dream report on imprisonment. To close the racial gap, it will take 190 years just so that black people are imprisoned for the same crime at the same rate as white people are imprisoned.

What about poverty? We saw a lot of that. Overall poverty, the racial disparity, 150 years to close the gap. Why does that have to be? At the slow rate that the black-white poverty gap has been narrowing since 1968, it would take 150 years to close the gap.

What about child poverty? Two hundred ten years to close the gap. Almost one-third of black children live in poverty. The child poverty gap would take 210 years to disappear, not reaching parity until 2212.

I would like to thank the National Council for La Raza that provided us with these statistics, the proportion of children without health insurance in the United States, home ownership rates. Look and you can see the proportion of children without health insurance in the United States. Look at the Hispanic figures. Look at that. Twenty-five percent of young Latino children do not have health insurance in this country.

What about home ownership rates, because we hear a lot of talk about the growth economy, and the Republicans and the President talk about promoting home ownership, home ownership, the first tier toward building wealth, okay? Well, if you are lucky enough to be able to own a home, sadly black and Hispanic home ownership rates are low. How low? To close the home ownership gap, the disparity between white home ownership and black home ownership, the first tier toward

wealth building, it will take 1,664 years to close the home ownership gap.

This is something that so many Americans take for granted. Yet so many Americans still have a dream for home ownership.

Now, what about income? It will take 581 years for us to close the per capita income gap. Since 1968, we have only been able to close the gap 2 cents. Black people make 55 cents for every dollar. That was in 1968. In 2001, it was 57 cents. Two cents, so 581 years to close the gap.

When some people start talking about how we want to build, rebuild, and provide for folks, that is what this Congress is supposed to do. We should build lives, we should build communities, build neighborhoods, and protect our people.

When it comes to the economic conditions that are prevailing for so many Americans, it is almost a joke. Here is a cartoon from the Washington Post. This is the sybaritic power player who is pulling the strings behind the scene, calling the shots, dictating politics and policy; and he is saying, ``It is not trickle down economics. We got the plumbing fixed.'' Here is the poor little fella down here, little panhandler trying to wait to get some of the stuff that is trickling down, and it is not trickling down any more.

Poverty is up. Median income down. That is the result of the policies of the Bush administration since 2001.

What about all these tax cuts? New Orleans has got a lot of attention now because of what has happened, and we hear and we will hear some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle suggesting that we need to do more tax cuts. Well, the faces of the people that came into our living rooms from Hurricane Katrina got this much from George Bush's tax cuts. But if you happened to make over $200,000 a year, you got this much from George Bush's tax cuts.

It is so clear that the administration wants to serve some of the people all of the time and fool the rest of us all of the time. The tax cuts, we should not hear another word uttered about the need for more of the kind of tax cuts that the Bush administration has given us thus far. This insensitive policymaking that ends up hurting real people leads to a kind of callousness within our society that we do not recognize sometimes, that we do not notice sometimes.

It is easy to pass an anti-panhandling ordinance in the city of Atlanta because we do not feel the pain of the people who do not eat at night. So it is also easy to demonize people. It is easy to demonize people that you do not know.

This made it around the Internet until Agence France-Presse pulled their photo off. But how is it that we can have a media in this country displaying one young man wading through that putrid water and the American press, the Associated Press, says that he is ``looting.'' Then you have two people who are obviously not black and they are ``finding.'' This young man, according to the Associated Press, walks through chest-deep floodwater after ``looting'' a grocery store. Two residents wade through chest-deep water after ``finding'' bread and soda.

This is the America of those statistics. This is the America that all Americans need to know and see. This is the America that too many of us have borne the brunt of generation after generation after generation after generation.

And then, they called them ``refugees.'' Some bright light in the media came up with that one to further dehumanize poor black people in New Orleans. I had some New Orleans residents in my congressional office in Georgia who said that they had never, ever thought that they would be called refugees in their own country. Other insensitive language just shows how totally out of touch the leadership of this country is with the American people.

While the city was still flooding, Speaker Hastert suggested that New Orleans should not be rebuilt.

As the mostly black people were herded into what looked like concentration camps, Barbara Bush suggested that they were really better off now than they were before. Well, maybe she has got something there, because it took losing an entire city for the ``compassionate conservatives'' in Washington, D.C., to finally get some compassion in the laws they pass, in the policies they enact, in what they do around here.

And you can imagine my surprise to hear the very people who chose not to adequately fund education, health care, affordable housing, now saying we have got to have Pell grants, Section 8 vouchers, schooling for children. It is what some of us have been saying all along.

Now, you can just about bet your bottom dollar that the Karl Rove spin machine is working overtime to whitewash the Bush administration preparations for the response to Katrina. Let us remember as we go through this that the State and local responders were victims too. That is why it is critical that the feds act. But they did not act, notwithstanding anything that comes out of the spin machine.

Kathleen Blanco, the governor of Louisiana said, ``We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water. They wanted to negotiate an organizational chart.'' This is from the New York Times. ``Far from deferring to State or local officials, FEMA asserted its authority and made things worse,'' according to Mr. Broussard, and I will talk about him a little bit later, who complained on Meet the Press.

Mayor Nagin said, ``The root of the breakdown was the failure of the Federal Government to deliver relief supplies and personnel quickly. They kept promising and saying things would happen. I was getting excited and telling people that. They kept making promises and promises.''

MSNBC informs us that FEMA Director Michael Brown waited 5 hours after the storm's landfall to get agency assistance, to get agency aid from the Department of Homeland Security.

Now, another thing that we need to know about, there are so many things that our government does in our name with our tax dollars, on our behalf supposedly, that we do not know about. The Bush administration has opened up these biodefense labs all over the country. In about 20, 25 universities around the country we have got biodefense labs studying I do not know what.

I can remember the Tuskegee Study. I remember MK-Ultra as an African American. I remember Paul Robeson. But Tulane University is under water, and Tulane University houses one of these biodefense labs. We need to know what the heck was in that lab, what was going on in that biodefense lab.

Some of the headlines. Notwithstanding what you may hear from the other side of the aisle or coming out of the White House about how everyone has to share the blame, these are some of the headlines.

``FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations.''

``FEMA turns away experienced firefighters.''

``FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks.''

``FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel.''

``Homeland Security won't let Red Cross deliver food.''

``FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans.''

``FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid.''

``FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board.''

``FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck.''

``FEMA turns away generators.''

``FEMA first responders urged not to respond.''

Those are just a few of the headlines. I have got all of the documentation, of course.

There is also a story about three U.S. Customs Blackhawk helicopter crews that are absolutely livid because they had been directed not to provide full-time support for the hurricane relief effort in the Gulf.

``Navy ship nearby underused.'' This is from the Chicago Tribune. A craft with food, water, doctors. All it needed was the orders. It never got the orders.

``Federal agency slow to accept business help.'' This is from the Financial Times, ``Federal agency slow to accept business help. From Wal-Mart's satellite-based communications system to FedEx's aircraft, U.S. business has in some cases managed to provide a swifter response to the initial impacts of Hurricane Katrina than the Federal and State authorities.''

This is from the Salt Lake City Tribune: ``Frustrated fire crews to hand out

fliers for FEMA. Many of the firefighters assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by FEMA thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers. Instead, they have learned they are going to be community relations officers for FEMA, shuffling throughout the gulf coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number, 1-800- 621-FEMA,'' which does not work most of the time.

Now, I know that American children can do better in geography, but you would think that at least our emergency management people would get their geography right. CNN.com says, Well, they were supposed to go to Charleston. My colleague from Charleston, we were in a meeting on Tuesday night, and he said they had the shelter all set up with supplies, cots, blankets and everything, and nobody came. Now we find out that this is why they did not come. They were supposed to be in Charleston, South Carolina. Guess where FEMA took them? Charleston, West Virginia. What incompetence. Right city, wrong State. CNN.com.

I cannot even imagine. No one should imagine. It is ridiculous. But they are going to tell you everything is all right.

The New York Times tells us, ``Navy pilots who rescued victims are reprimanded.'' What? ``Two Navy helicopter pilots and their crews returned from New Orleans on August 30 expecting to be greeted as lifesavers after ferrying more than 100 victims to safety. Instead, they were reprimanded.''

Well, we are working on this, since I serve on the Committee on Armed Services. But the sad thing about it is, when we had our briefing on Tuesday evening, the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of HUD were all there at the briefing, except that Defense kept going in and out, Homeland Security kept going in and out, could not stay long enough to brief the Members of Congress or to hear from the Members of Congress who are directly impacted by their failure, their incompetence.

Malik Rahin is a former Black Panther Party member. In a very compelling radio interview he said, ``You want more morality from the poor than from the rich.'' But he rejected the idea that New Orleans was a city divided by race. He said, ``Whites took their boats and went into black neighborhoods. But it was the feds who forced people to leave their possessions. Once they got rescued, they had to leave their possessions. They could only take one bag.''

He says, ``Over 70 percent of the people who were rescued were rescued by individuals.'' Then he went on to say something very interesting. He said, ``$90 million of HOPE VI construction, but the people who needed it the most in New Orleans got no training, no community service.''

Louisiana has the highest dropout rate in the country. He said, ``Juvenile justice is a disgrace.'' He said, ``The only equal opportunity employer here is drugs.''

We heard a lot about shooting. He says, ``White vigilante groups with shotguns and rifles rode around saying they were going to shoot the looters.'' They were unchecked. There could have been a riot. He says, ``There was about to be a race riot.''

He said, ``Many whites took their own personal boats into the black community. Too many acts of heroism, sharing ice, sharing water.''

Then he mentions Jefferson Parish had to secede from the United States of America. So I want to mention the Jefferson Parish president.

But before that I am going to mention what Mayor Nagin in a wonderfully compelling interview with WWL said when he had the opportunity to speak directly with President Bush. He said, ``I told him we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice, and that I have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we are outmanned in just about every respect.''

But in perhaps the most compelling of all of the interviews that we have seen, and these are all available on the Internet, is Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, on Meet the Press. He said, ``Sir, they were told, like me, every single day the cavalry is coming on the Federal level, the cavalry is coming, the cavalry is coming, the cavalry is coming. I have just begun to hear the hooves of the cavalry. The cavalry is still not out here yet, but I have begun to hear the hooves, and we are almost a week out.''

Then he gives three quick examples, one of the Wal-Mart delivery trucks, three trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel. It was docked in Jefferson Parish. The Coast Guard said, ``Come and get the fuel right away. When we got there with our trucks, they got the word. FEMA says, `Don't give the fuel.' Yesterday, yesterday FEMA comes in and cuts all our communication lines.'' Why is FEMA cutting communications?

``The guy who runs the building I am in, Emergency Management,'' this is Aaron Broussard on Meet the Press, ``he is responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard Nursing Home, and every day she called him and said, `Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?' He said, `Yeah, mama, somebody is coming to get you.' `Somebody is coming to get you on Tuesday.' `Somebody is coming to get you on Wednesday.' `Somebody is coming to get you on Thursday.' `Somebody is coming to get you on Friday.' And she drowned Friday night.''

And she drowned Friday night. ``Nobody is coming to get us. Nobody is coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody has promised. They have had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God's sake, just shut up and send us somebody.'' Aaron Broussard.

Want the facts? The FEMA chief waited 5 hours after Katrina made landfall on August 29. Five hours.

It is clear also that the administration would like to avoid a blame game. They want to do everything to not discuss the failures. What is Michael Brown's reaction to all of this? Michael Brown, FEMA director, says in a CNN interview: ``Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well.'' That is our FEMA director, Michael Brown. How out of touch could this man have been?

Those 9/11 activists know how critical it is to construct a timeline, because the timeline tells us who did what and when they did it. The timeline will tell us the truth. The timeline cuts through the spin. So, of course, I made a point to get in touch with the folks who were collecting the timelines, and there are a lot of timelines available on the Internet. Think Progress has a timeline, and WWL also has a timeline.

All the while this was going on, the news media reported that the Iraq war costs now exceed Vietnam's. But I think it is pretty clear that the Iraq war is costing us more than money. Let us just look at where some of those assets were. Mississippi has 40 percent of its National Guard forces in Iraq. Louisiana has 35 percent of its National Guard forces in Iraq. Florida has 26 percent. Alabama has 23 percent of its National Guard forces in Iraq.

On June 8, 2004, in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Walter Maestri, who is emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, said, ``It appears that the money has been moved in the President's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq. And I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we're doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.'' Security, we are going to discuss that in a minute.

On April 24, 2004, the Times-Picayune said: ``Less money is available to the Army Corps of Engineers to build levees and water projects in the Mississippi River Valley this year and next year.'' Nobody can say they did not know, were not warned, whatever it is that the spin machine might come up with.

National Geographic Magazine, October 2004, came up with an article that reported on a simulation, I will not call it a game, but a simulation of what would happen should a hurricane hit New Orleans: ``As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however. The carless, the homeless, the aged, the infirm, and those die-hard

New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.'' It goes on to describe just exactly what happened during Hurricane Katrina, but that was in October 2004.

The Louisiana National Guard also knew that they were paying a price that was perhaps too high. On August 1 the Louisiana National Guard complained that they were taking critical equipment to Iraq that should have remained in Louisiana. But when the Bush administration does not like what one says, they just fire them. So there was a former Member of Congress that I had the pleasure to serve with, Mike Parker from Mississippi, who was with the Army Corps of Engineers. He complained that they were cutting the Army Corps of Engineers budget too much, and so he was forced out.

Now it turns out that Michael Brown was forced out too. He was forced out from the job he had before he became the FEMA assistant director and then director. Let me see if I can read this correctly. Michael Brown's previous employment was with the International Arabian Horse Association, and he was fired from that job too. They said that he was asked to resign. And so, of course, eminently qualified to serve in the Bush administration; he gets one of the most important jobs in the country with the lives of the American people in his hands.

We know that this is what they do, hurting people whom they disagree with, because there is the case of another Army Corps of Engineers employee by the name of Bunnatine Greenhouse, who complained about the no-bid sweetheart deal private contracts going to Halliburton. Well, she was forced out of her job too because, even though Vice President Dick Cheney still gets his deferred compensation checks from Halliburton Corporation, I guess the Bush administration is not finished with Halliburton, because they have been hired to do the storm cleanup. Is there no other corporation in America? Why is it that it always has to be Halliburton?

Well, the Times-Picayune calls for the firing of Michael Brown; and I have signed my name to many letters that are floating around here calling for his firing, his resignation, Chertoff's as well; and in a minute somebody on this House floor is going to mention impeachment.

But as if making sure that Halliburton got what they needed to get, I checked the FEMA Web site, and on the FEMA Web site it says: ``Help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.'' First on the list is American Red Cross. We remember that during 9/11, there were many complaints from the victims of 9/11, and I remember seeing one report of the symphony orchestra getting some of the 9/11 contributions. But there is Operation Blessing. Operation Blessing was founded by Pat Robertson. That is the same Pat Robertson who called for the assassination of a duly elected president, Hugo Chavez, of Venezuela. How can FEMA recommend that someone who calls for the murder of somebody else get hard-earned money from the American people? It is on the FEMA Web site, and it is outrageous.

But there is more. Sadly, there is more. I agree with the Tom Hartman article: ``You Can't Govern if You Don't Believe in Government.'' What we have witnessed here in utter stark relief is the culmination of all of that Republican ideology against government, against the people, against helping people who are in need. Ronald Reagan was elected President by saying: ``The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, `I'm from the government and I'm here to help.''' Newt Gingrich in 1995 told us what he thought about government. He was speaking about Medicare. He said: ``Now, we don't want to get rid of it in round one because we don't think that's politically smart and we do not think that's the right way to go through a transition. But we believe it is going to wither on the vine because we think people are going to voluntarily leave it.'' Wither on the vine.

Grover Norquist in 2001 said this, and I think this encapsulates it all: ``I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.''

That is how these people feel about government. So I am not surprised that the Army Corps of Engineers budget is cut to the extent it is cut. I am not surprised.

Here, Bush's agenda is to cut government services to the bone and make people rely on the private sector for the things they need. So he sliced $71 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of Engineers, a 44 percent reduction. In addition, the President cut $30 million in flood control. And then Bush took to the airwaves on ``Good Morning America'' on September 1 and said, ``I don't think anyone anticipated that breach of the levees.''

``I don't think anyone anticipated that breach of the levees.''

Now, in stark contrast to the way the Department of Homeland Security mobilized to secure the people of the gulf States, within 48 hours of the notification of the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist, Bush nominated Roberts to serve as Chief Justice. They are real fast at doing some things.

Now, at some point, we have to talk about values and priorities and how it has become that our values and our priorities are so twisted and mangled now. We are focusing on other things, and some of those things are important. I am not going to say that everything is not so important that has become a priority. We had a resolution today that six people voted against to give Bush another blank check in the war on terrorism. I was one of the six.

No more blank checks, Mr. President, not for war, not for war.

I went to the Committee on Homeland Security's Web site, and I just thought I would look and see which subcommittee has jurisdiction for natural disasters. Well, I could not believe it. I did not see any mention at all of natural disasters. So I went to one of our interns, whose eyes are a whole lot younger than mine, and I said, Would you please scour the entire website, because I have put in a search and it did not come up in a search; scour the entire website, and I want you to highlight the number of times you see the mention of the two words, ``natural disaster.''

It is not mentioned. It is not mentioned. On the entire Committee on Homeland Security Web site ``natural disaster'' is not mentioned.

Now, a young man had a script before him, and he was supposed to read the script, but he took the opportunity to deviate from the script and speak his mind. His name is Kanye West. He has been on the cover of all these national magazines talking about how he is the most brilliant new hip-hop, rap artist, Kanye West. And now, he is being vilified because he dared to take a detour from what some people wanted him to say and say what he wanted to say, which is, quite frankly, the origins of hip- hop anyway, young people who have something to say and have found the means to say it.

Kanye West said, ``I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family; it says they are `looting.' You see a white family; it says they are `looking for food.' And, you know, it has been 5 days, because most of the people are black, and even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite, because I have tried to turn away from the TV because it is too hard to watch. I have even been shopping before even giving a donation.

``So now I am calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give,'' notice he said he is calling his business manager; I want you to pay attention to that. ``And, just imagine if I was down there and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well off, as slow as possible.''

Now, NBC censored that. NBC has decided that they can determine what we hear from the smartest young man in hip-hop.

He also said, ``George Bush doesn't care about black people.'' NBC censored it. They deleted his remarks. And MSNBC President Rick Kaplan, who produced the telethon at Rockefeller Plaza in New York, had the cameras cut to actor Chris Tucker who was on a different part of the stage and who appeared to be looking off at something else in the camera. So it was the MSNBC president, who was also the producer, who said, Well, you know, maybe the American people do not need to hear the smartest young man in hip-hop's ideas about George Bush.

Thank goodness, I can come to the floor of the House and speak my piece. And as long as C-SPAN cameras are running, well, it will not be cut off, but I understand there is even an effort to try and limit C- SPAN's access to American households.

But I have to tell my colleagues something. As I saw the African Americans, mostly African American families ripped apart, I could only think about slavery, families ripped apart, herded into what looked like concentration camps. So I was reminded of a Miami Herald article written on July 5, the day after Freedom Day, 1987.

The title of the article was ``Reagan Aides and the Secret Government,'' and here is a quote from that article: ``A copy of the memo was obtained by the Herald. The scenario outlined in the Brinkerhoff memo resembles somewhat a paper Giufreda had written in 1970 at the Army War College in Carlyle, Pennsylvania, in which he advocated martial law in case of a national uprising by black militants.'' In which he advocated martial law in case of a national uprising by black militants. The paper also advocated the roundup and transfer of two ``assembly centers or relocation camps of at least 21 million American Negroes.''

Now, I did not write that; the U.S. Government wrote that. They were going to round up 21 million Negroes because they were afraid of freeing black people. A story of neglect? I am not surprised about any story of neglect of the people that comes from this body with this set of priorities, that passes these kinds of budgets on the backs of the American people, these kinds of tax cuts on the backs of the American people.

I want to commend my sister Congresswoman, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), who has said that it is time for us to get serious about poverty in this country. It is time for us to get serious. I am a proud cosponsor of legislation with the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

I will just conclude by saying that on the United States State Department Web site is ``How to identify misinformation.'' Does the story fit the pattern of a conspiracy theory?

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take the time of the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio).

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to join in the remarks of my colleague about the intensity of feeling that we have for the people of Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and, of course, Florida on the first stop of Hurricane Katrina and the situation that has unfolded literally before our very eyes.

I should also take a moment to commend the journalists who have facilitated us being able to see what has unfolded. Part of what has unfolded is sheer incompetence on the part of this administration, and the feelings that the people are experiencing result from the fact that we have an administration who let the American people down, who let the people in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida down, and just will not say We let you down. We made a mistake. They, instead, try to defend the indefensible.

Part of the late response comes from the fact that 40 percent of the Mississippi National Guard are in Iraq; 35 percent for those of Louisiana are in Iraq; 26 percent of the Florida National Guard are in Iraq; and 23 percent of the Alabama National Guard are in Iraq.

I have seen the interviews that have been done by Aaron Broussard of Jefferson Parish and Malik Rahim in New Orleans proper. Aaron Broussard said, ``We have been abandoned by our own country.'' Investigative journalists sent information to me that Customs' Blackhawk helicopter pilots were livid because they were not allowed to rescue people.

And then in the matter of attitude, and of course, I will be speaking more at length on this on Thursday in a 1-hour special order, but in attitude, FEMA Chief Michael Brown had the nerve to say, No one was clairvoyant enough to foresee this happening. But there have been studies, there have been articles, and this is his job to foresee this happening. I have got articles from National Geographic and Scientific American all saying exactly what happened and what we witnessed unfolding. And then he had the unmitigated gall to say that people must take some responsibility.

Well, Mr. Brown, you need to take responsibility.

And, Mr. Bush, you need to take responsibility.

The Times-Picayune has called for Mr. Brown's firing, and I have to say that they are absolutely correct. And I would just like to ask this administration to just admit that they messed up instead of appearing before the American people with all kinds of excuses about what they did and what they did not do, and we are not going to revisit the past, we are going to make sure we move forward or we look forward. There are a million people who have been affected by this, dispersed all over our country. The State of Georgia has received and is receiving thousands of them. The Fourth Congressional District is receiving as many of them as we can. The City of Atlanta has opened its arms to the victims of this administration.

With interest, I note, on the State Department Web site, that they provide us a clue as to when we are seeing misinformation, and what they tell us is that we are being misinformed when we are being told something that is clearly not true. What the administration has said to us tonight, in many instances, is clearly untrue.

And let me just say that it is unconscionable that the Secretary of Energy could stand before us tonight and say that he does not know how to bring down gas prices, which was the original reason that I asked for this 5 minutes tonight.

Mr. Speaker, Kenneth Samuel is a Godly man, and I thank him for being here today.

He was born in Darlington, South Carolina, and received his B.A. from Wesleyan University, his Master's of Divinity from Emory University, and his Doctor of Ministry Degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

Dr. Samuel was licensed as a minister and ordained at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia, the church of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reverend Samuel believes that the church must be all around us and is not just reflected in a building. Toward that end, he has taken his ministry of social justice to the community at large. Reverend Samuel currently serves as the President of the DeKalb County NAACP. He has also served as President of the DeKalb County Council on Adult Literacy and has volunteered as a chaplain at the DeKalb County jail. He serves on the Board of Leadership DeKalb and chaplained the southern region of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

In 1987 he organized the Victory for the World Church and Independent Baptist Church and United Church of Christ. Reverend Samuel's church serves the total person, providing spiritual development, educational enhancement, and physical fitness. The church school, Victory Christian Academy, Victory Annex, and the Kenneth L. Samuel Community Life Center define Victory as a church that serves its members and the larger community.

Reverend Samuel is a wonderful leader in our community, a strong man unafraid to take a stand, and I am proud to have him lead us in prayer today in our community, the United States Congress.

Mr. Chairman, I rise because the racial disparity in unemployment, median family income, average household net worth, over- 65 poverty rate, and infant mortality is not decreasing, it is increasing.

Mr. Speaker, last month I was able to do a Special Order thanks to the minority leader and her staff who have secured time so that I can come on to the House floor and address this Congress and the leadership of this Congress and the American people.

Last month's Special Order, which is what these talks are called after legislative business has been dispensed with, was about a bus, the bus of opportunity. And it was a plea to the leaders of this Congress, to the leaders of this administration, to the leaders of this country to not allow Americans to be left behind as the bus of opportunity pulls off.

I talked about the experience that I had with a little boy who was trying to catch a metro bus to school. And he yelled to me and I ran and I ran and I ran to catch up with that bus and I told the little boy, You can run. You can catch the bus. And we caught that bus as it idled at a red light. We pounded on the door. The bus driver nodded her recognition of my request to let the little boy board the bus, and then she shook her head no and drove away. The little boy was crushed, but he caught the next bus, and I assume he successfully made it to school.

Then I talked about some statistics from leading organizations that keep them about the dire straits faced by too many Americans, and in particular too many African Americans. I showed these charts on imprisonment, the disparities that exist in our country. If you look at imprisonment, which is an indication of the status of justice in this country, it will take for the gap to close between the rates of imprisonment for African Americans and the rates of imprisonment for white Americans to close, it will take 190 years.

For poverty, for the rate of poverty experienced by African Americans, to catch up to the rate of poverty experienced by white Americans it will take 150 years to close that gap if nothing is done in the area of public policy. Child poverty, 210 years to erase the gap of a large number of African American children who experience poverty. Income, 581 years to close the income gap experienced by African Americans in this country. And, finally, because the President talks about homeownership and the power of homeownership and how this budget that this Congress is now in the process of passing, is to promote homeownership in this country, sadly the rate of homeownership in the African American community pales in comparison to that experienced in the white community. It will take 1,664 years to close the homeownership gap if nothing is done.

So I ask the leadership of this Congress to please pay attention to these statistics because these statistics represent real people. And despite what the Republicans say about us having a growth economy, the sad fact is that if we do nothing, too many Americans are being left behind, too many Americans. And so I ask that we leave no American behind.

Mr. Speaker, in Iraq I ask the question tonight, are we leaving our soul behind? Who are we as a country? What have we become? Do the American people even care? What can we do to regain our soul?

Mr. Speaker, I have noted on this floor that the snows of Kilimanjaro are melting, that the glaciers in the Arctic are melting, that we have real serious

problems that the best minds in our country can devote their talent to solving. And I would like to read a quote from Dwight David Eisenhower about how we choose to spend our resources. He said, ``Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.'' President Eisenhower said that.

Then John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address reminded us that the world is very different now for man, for man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. Kennedy said, ``Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request. That both sides begin anew the quest for peace before the dark powers of destruction released by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.'' Planned or accidental self-destruction.

Today I would like to do a rollcall, a rollcall of the young men and women who have died in Iraq from my home State of Georgia as compiled by my local newspaper on Monday, May 30. In addition, I would like to read a few articles and I would like to read those articles all with one question or one series of questions in mind: Who are we? What do we stand for? What is being done in our name? Is there a way out?

I will begin to read Georgia's Memorial Day honor roll. Jamaal Addison, 22, died March 23, 2003; Diego Fernando Rincon, 19, died March 29, 2003; Wilbert Davis, age 40, died April 3, 2003; Edward J. Korn, 31, died April 3, 2003, David T. Nutt, 32, died May 14, 2003; John K. Klinesmith, Jr., died June 12, 2003; Michael Crockett, age 27, died July 24, 2003; Nathaniel Hart, Jr., age 29, died July 28, 2003; Bobby Franklin, age 38, died August 20, 2003; Benjamin Freeman, age 19, died October 13, 2003; Jerry Wilson, age 45, died November 23, 2003; Marshall Edgerton, age 27, died December 11, 2003; Christopher Holland, age 26, died December 17, 2003; Nathaniel Johnson, age 22, died January 8, 2004; Ricky Crockett, age 38, died January 12, 2004; Thomas Thigpen, age 52, died March 16, 2004; William R. Strange, age 19, died April 2, 2004; Justin Johnson, age 22, died April 10, 2004; Antoine Holt, age 20, died April 10, 2004; Marvin Camposiles, age 25, died April 17, 2004; Marquis Whitaker, age 20, died April 27, 2004; Christopher Dickerson, age 33, died April 30, 2004.

Juan Lopez, age 22, died June 21, 2004. Tyler Brown, age 26, died September 14, 2004. Foster Pinkston, age 47, died September 16, 2004. Michael Scarborough, age 28, died October 30, 2004. Kelley Courtney, age 28, died October 30, 2004. Dan Malcom, Junior, age 25, died November 10, 2004. Jonathan Shields, 25, died November 12, 2004. Jeffrey Blanton, age 23, died December 12, 2004. Bennie J. Washington, age 25, died January 4, 2005. Jesus Fonseca, age 19, died January 17, 2005. David Salie, age 34, died February 14, 2005. Tyler Dickens, age 20, died April 12, 2005. John McGee, age 36, died May 2, 2005. Charles Gillican, the Third, age 35, died May 14, 2005.

The sad fact, even sadder than the way I feel right now after having read those names, is that we may not even have the real story. We may not know the true costs of this war. I am told U.S. military personnel who died in German hospitals en route to German hospitals are not counted. So, in addition to the more than 1,000 Americans who have lost their lives in this war, there are an additional 6,210 who died in German hospitals or en route to those hospitals.

Brian Harring writes in the Domestic Intelligence Reporter that the Bush administration has sworn up and down that it will never reinstate the draft. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in an op-ed blaming conspiracy mongers for attempting to scare and mislead young Americans, insisted that the idea of reinstating the draft has never been debated, endorsed, discussed, theorized, pondered or even whispered by anyone in the Bush administration.

However, in the Domestic Intelligence Reporter, Brian Harring writes that assertion is demonstrably false. According to an internal Selective Service memo made public under the Freedom of Information Act, the agency's acting director met with two of Rumsfeld's under secretaries in February, 2003, precisely to debate, discuss and ponder a return to the draft.

The memo then proposes in detail that the Selective Service be reengineered to cover all Americans, men and, for the first time, women, ages 18 to 34.

I ask the question, what are we setting ourselves up for? What exactly are we doing?

The Washington Post ran an article, and it told us that the Army was going to issue combat badges for soldiers not in the infantry. The opening paragraph states: Any Army soldier who has seen active combat while in Iraq or Afghanistan may now receive a new Combat Action Badge, making tens of thousands of soldiers who are not in the infantry ranks, including women, eligible for a combat award for the first time. It recognizes that in the current realities of the battlefield and insurgency any soldier can be subject to a combat situation.

However, the story also recognizes that more than halfway through fiscal year 2005 the Army is 15 percent behind in its effort to enlist new soldiers.

What is this administration's position on women in combat?

The Mideast Stars and Stripes ran a story entitled, Marine Raid Breaks Gender Barrier.

``Lance Corporal Erin Libby doesn't want to be treated the same as her male Marine Corps counterparts. But she does want to be treated as an equal, even in combat.

``In a way, she got her chance last weekend when Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, led a raid into the city of Karmah in search of high-value targets and hidden weapons.

`` `We're out here, and we're rocking on the front line,' said Libby, a 21-year old from Niceville, Florida.

`` `This is history,' Chief Warrant Officer Jill St. John is quoted as saying. `I've been in the Marine Corps for 18 years, and this is my first opportunity to be out with an infantry company. Even 5 years ago, the Marine Corps wouldn't be doing this. This is a major change in how we think women can be used in the military.' ''

Then there is the headline from the Guardian that says, The U.S. Lowers Standards in Army Numbers Crisis. Why do we need to do this?

``The U.S. military has stopped battalion commanders from dismissing new recruits for drug abuse, alcohol, poor fitness and pregnancy in an attempt to halt the rising attrition rate in an Army under growing strain.''

Last month, the Army announced that it was 6,000 soldiers short of its recruitment targets for the year so far, and tomorrow we are supposed to hear the latest numbers for recruitment.

We are told in this article that recruiters have been given greater leeway. By doing things to increase quantity, you are also doing things to decrease quality, but they have made the judgment that that is the way to go.

Now the Stars and Stripes ran a story that has to be disheartening to anyone who would read it. The headline: Advocates See Veterans of War on Terror Joining the Ranks of the Homeless.

``Advocates for the homeless already are seeing veterans from the war on terror living on the street and say the government must do more to ease their transition from military to civilian life.

``Veteran affairs officials estimate that about 250,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, and another 250,000 experience homelessness at some point.''

How can it be that if we have a million people sleeping on the streets of America at night that a quarter of them could be veterans? How do we choose to spend our money? It is certainly not to decrease the disparities that exist in this country, and it certainly is not to get rid of those who are homeless, and it certainly is not to take care of even the veterans, the veterans of our current war on terror. Too many of them are sleeping on the street.

As for the war in Iraq, how did we get into this? My colleagues can come down and talk about the war. War is just a word for many of us who do not experience it, who do not feel it, who do not understand it. But there is an author by the name of James Bamford

who has done a lot of writing about the U.S. intelligence establishment. He has written a new book, and he was interviewed by a Kevin Zeese about the new book. That book is entitled, A Pretext For War, and this is how Bamford explains how it came to be that we got involved in this war. This is what Bamford says.

James Bamford says of his book, ``Pretext is the only book to take an in-depth look at the U.S. intelligence community from before 9/11 to the war in Iraq. It describes how CIA Director George Tenet, while succeeding in increasing the personnel strength of the CIA's clandestine service during the late 1990s, failed to change the culture, direction and training from a Cold War focus to a counterterrorism focus . . . Thus, the CIA never even tried to penetrate al Qaeda during the years leading up to 9/11, believing it too difficult, too dangerous or not their job, depending on which agency official I interviewed.'' This is James Bamford speaking.

He continues to say, ``Pretext also takes the only minute-by-minute look, about one-third of the book, at the confusion and chaos taking place among senior officials in Washington and elsewhere in the hours following the 9/11 attack. It examines everything from the secret locations to which the Vice President and other officials disappeared, to the evacuation of the intelligence agencies, to the highly secret continuance of government procedures that were activated, many for the very first time.

``Next, Pretext describes how the claims involving Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, the connections between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda and Hussein's involvement with 9/11 were simply used as pretexts for a war long planned by a small group of neoconservatives supportive of the Israeli government's policies and the expansion of U.S. military power throughout the Middle East. It examines how top Bush administration officials, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and David Wurmser first drafted a plan outlining an attack on Iraq and removal of Saddam Hussein in 1996.

``But the document titled `A Clean Break' was drafted for Israel not the United States.'' This is James Bamford speaking: ``At the time the three were acting as advisers to newly elected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. `Israel can shape its strategic environment. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, an important Israeli strategic objective.' Not satisfied with regime change in Iraq, they went on to recommend that Israel shape its strategic environment by rolling back Syria.''

Bamford continues: `` Wurmser then authored a paper in January 2001 arguing that the U.S. and Israel jointly launch a preemptive war throughout the Middle East and North Africa to establish U.S.-Israeli dominance. The U.S. and Israel should `strike fatally, not merely disarm, the centers of radicalism in the regions of Damascus, Baghdad, Tripoli, Tehran and Gaza.' He added that 'crisis were opportunities.' '' This is Wurmser being quoted by James Bamford. Bamford continues: ``About the same time on January 30, 2001, President Bush held his first National Security Council meeting, and according to former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill discussed only two topics, becoming closer to Israel's Ariel Sharon and locating targets to attack in Iraq.''

Bamford continues: ``As Wurmser had suggested following the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration immediately began using the crisis as an opportunity to launch their long-planned war against Iraq.

``At 2:40 p.m. on September 11, as the Pentagon was still burning,'' and this is Bamford continuing, ``Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld dictated notes of his intention to blame Saddam Hussein even though there was no evidence of such link and all of the intelligence pointed exclusively to bin Laden and al Qaeda. `Hit S.H. at same time.' '' That is Rumsfeld. `` `Sweep him up whether related to 9/11 or not.' '' Bamford continues: ``Next Wurmser was put in charge of a secret unit in Feith's office with a cover name Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group. Its function was to gather and feed less than credible intelligence, intelligence discounted by the CIA such as the supposed Niger uranium deal to the White House and Vice President Cheney's office. Wurmser is now Cheney's top Middle East adviser.''

Bamford continues: ``Finally, Pretext closely examines the numerous lies and deceptions presented to the Congress, the American people, and the world in order to justify the war in Iraq.''

Bamford says: ``Finally, Pretext closely examines the numerous lies and deceptions presented to the Congress, the American public, and the world in order to justify the war in Iraq.''

One last note: he also tells us that there is another problem and that is of the CIA's new license to kill anytime and anywhere, overseas without oversight. He says they are now using missile-armed drones to do assassinations in Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, and other places in total secrecy, often without notice even to the host countries; and these problems just scratch the surface in the intelligence community. James Bamford, author, investigative journalist, reporter, telling us the truth about how we came to be in Iraq.

I would invoke another name, the name is Pat Tillman. Pat Tillman's family questions the reversal on the cause of the Ranger's death. The Washington Post tells us that former NFL player Pat Tillman's family is lashing out against the Army saying that the military's investigations into Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan last year were a sham, and the Army's efforts to cover up the truth have made it harder for them to deal with their loss more than a year after their son was shot several times by his fellow Army Rangers.

Tillman's mother and father said in interviews they believe the government and the military created a heroic tale about how their son died to foster a patriotic response across the country. They say the Army's lies about what happened have made them suspicious and they are certain they will never get the full story. ``Pat had high ideals about the country, that is why he did what he did,'' Mary Tillman said in her first lengthy interview since her son's death. ``The military let him down. The administration let him down. It was a sign of disrespect. The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they too lied about it afterwards is disgusting.''

Pat Tillman's father says, ``Maybe lying is not a big deal any more. Pat is dead, and this is not going to bring him back. But these guys should have been held up to scrutiny right up the chain of command, and no one has.

``If this is what happens when someone high profile dies, I can only imagine what happens with everyone else.'' These are quotes from the Washington Post from Pat Tillman's parents.

And then there is the matter of the money, the money, the cost of this war. The cost of these priorities is at the expense of America's neighborhoods. Where is the money?

The Washington Post again tells us that an audit of Iraq's spending spurs criminal probe. Now the Department of Defense has admitted that they cannot track $2.3 trillion, and we know that $100 million has been lost here and $9 million has been lost there, an estimate of $1 billion being lost every month. This Washington Post article says investigators have opened a criminal inquiry into millions of dollars missing in Iraq after auditors uncovered indications of fraud and nearly $100 million in reconstruction spending that could not be properly accounted for.

But the leadership in this administration has told us that we can expect war for the next generation. And, indeed, it appears that preparations are being made for such a war, for such an endeavor. Military expansionism, directly against what Dwight Eisenhower warned us about.

We have been told that Bush and Karzai signed a pact for long-term U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. They called it a strategic partnership. The Guardian tells us that the U.S. military is going to build four giant new bases in Iraq.

These U.S. bases pave the way for long-term intervention in Central Asia. The U.S. Government, we are told, has acquired basing or transit rights for passage of war planes and military supplies from nearly two dozen countries

in Central Asia, the Middle East and their periphery, a projection of American power into the center of the Eurasian land mass that has no historical precedent. All told, there are about 350,000 troops deployed worldwide. According to 2002 Pentagon documents, there were only 46 countries in the entire world that had no U.S. military presence. Only 46 countries in the entire world.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw to your attention tonight as I begin to wind down, H.R. 2723, which was introduced recently by my esteemed colleague from New York to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes.

H.R. 2723 establishes civilian service, military service, a requirement. It sets out the length of time of that service, conditions for termination of that service, types of civilian service, implementation standards by the President, compensation and benefits for people age 18 to 26. It establishes deferments and postponements for high school students, those experiencing certain hardships and disability, establishes induction exceptions, for example, for people who do not have proper training. It establishes conscientious objection and alternative noncombatant or civilian service, discharge, and includes women.

So I thought I would go to the Selective Service Web site and it tells us that Selective Service is also capable of providing inductees with special skills such as health care personnel after authorizing legislation is passed by Congress and a draft is ordered by the President.

The agency would also administer an alternative service program for men classified as conscientious objectors who are required to perform such service in lieu of serving in the military. The question I asked is, how did we get here and where are we going?

I would just like to conclude with the words, and I do not think I will have enough time to read the entire document, but all of this information that I have recounted today is available on the Internet. It is in the public domain. It is available in newspapers, domestic and international. It is just a matter of being able to put it all together and reading, reading and understanding.

Smedley Darlington Butler, who was a major general in the United States Marine Corps, wrote a little tome entitled, War is a Racket. I would like to submit the entire document into the Record and I will read as much of it as I think I can. At least I will read the first opening paragraphs.

``War is a racket. It always has been.

``It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

``A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small `inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

``In the World War,'' and he is talking about World War I because this was written a long time ago, ``a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the First World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows. How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat- infested dugout? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

``Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few, the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.

``And what is this bill?

``This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Backbreaking taxation for generations and generations.

``For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.''

These are the words of Smedley Darlington Butler in his book, War is a Racket.

He goes on, in chapter two, to discuss who makes the profits. He goes through all of the war industries. He talks about the powder people, the steel companies, Anaconda, copper companies, a little increase in profits of approximately 200 percent.

Does war pay? It paid them. But they aren't the only ones, he writes. There are still others. Leather, nickel, sugar. Chicago packers. The bankers. He goes through airplane and engine manufacturers. Shipbuilders.

He says that the Senate committee probe of the munitions industry and its wartime profits, despite its sensational disclosures, hardly has scratched the surface. Even so, it had some effect. The State Department has been studying ``for some time'' methods of keeping out of war, and so the war department suddenly decides it has a wonderful plan to spring to limit the profits in wartime.

Then he asks the question, but what about a limitation on losses? As far, he writes, as I have been able to ascertain, there is nothing in the scheme to limit a soldier to the loss of but one eye, or one arm, or to limit his wounds to one or two or three. Or to limit the loss of life. Of course, the committee cannot be bothered with such trifling matters.

And then in chapter three, he asks, Who pays the bills? He says that the soldier pays the biggest part of the bill.

In chapter four he says, How do we smash this racket? He says a few profit and the many pay. But there is a way to stop it. It can be smashed effectively only by taking the profit out of war. And then he goes on to describe how that could be done.

He says, let the workers in the plants, let the CEOs of the corporations, let the Members of Congress who appropriate the money all get the same wages, all, even the generals and admirals. Let them get the same wages as the total monthly income of a soldier in the trenches. He says, when you can let the kings and the tycoons and the masters of business earn what the soldiers earn, then maybe we will not have war. Maybe we can take the profit out of war and maybe we can put an end to the racket.

In chapter five, Smedley Butler tells us, I do not use these words, but he says, To hell with war.

I wanted to use some of my time, and I do not have much left, to talk about, maybe to introduce what I will talk about next month, and that is the depravities of war and how we can become inhuman and inhumane. It does not take war, but it certainly seems to be exacerbated by war.

I have a situation in my district where young black men already subdued, confined, in jail, tasered to death, how many black men, unarmed black men have been murdered on the streets of our country? The depravities of war. Who are we? What are we becoming? Why is this? I was told that I have to maintain decorum in this place. I think we as a people, we as a country, we as a Nation need to ask ourselves, what are we doing in Iraq? What are we doing around the world? What are we allowing the leadership of this country to do in our name? And when will we stop it?

Mr. Speaker, I am against this rule and the underlying bill. Good substantive amendments that the American people need to hear debate on were not ruled in order.

I have offered an amendment to force the Pentagon to share the names of the companies that have received $20 billion to make Pentagon computers talk to each other. According to the GAO, DOD business systems remain fundamentally flawed, unable to provide timely and reliable information and leaving DOD vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse. And yet we continue to give the Pentagon more and more, despite their admission that they cannot track $2.3 trillion and despite the fact that they lost $100 million in Iraqi building funds and $9 billion in Iraqi oil revenue.

Both my amendments would force the Pentagon to tell us where all of this money is going.

My second amendment would have required the Pentagon to tell the American people who had the contracts to operate the detention centers like Abu Ghraib that have so shamed us recently.

Just imagine what we could do for Americans in need without all that Pentagon waste. I do, and that is why I ask these questions.

Other amendments addressing critical issues were not allowed, and I can think of no reason why the majority refuses to allow a full debate on these critical issues confronting us today.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

Mr. Chairman, where do I begin? I rise to oppose this bill for all that it represents about an America that has lost its way.

The snows are melting on Mount Kilimanjaro. Polar ice caps are contracting. In Africa, wars stoked by the United States contribute to the deaths of millions. Millions more die from hunger and disease. More Americans than ever do not have health insurance. Joblessness in some areas is at an all-time high. And this Congress is cutting Medicaid.

You might hear some talk up here about deficit spending, but there is precious little about the deficit so obvious as our values.

Dr. King told us that we all live in a world house, that we have the resources and the know-how to provide everyone everywhere with the basic necessities of life and that we must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

He reminded us that there is no deficit in human resources, but a deficit in human will. Nowhere is that more evident than in this half- trillion authorization for more fraud, waste, abuse and war.

At some point, Mr. Chairman, we ought to have a serious talk in this body about peace. The American people have been blunted with the horrors of hate and just like we rejected the outrageous behavior of Southern demagogues during the Civil Rights era, the American people reject the outrageous behavior at our detention centers like Abu Ghraib. But such is the collateral damage of war.

Today, courageous young men and women who joined the military to get a college education and not to go to war are taking a stand in their own way to reject war and hate. I urge my colleagues to find a new way and to do it today.