Barbara Lee Holds Second Congressional Hearing on Bringing Troops Home from Iraq
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today, as the House Republican leadership announced that it plans floor debate on Iraq, U.S. Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA.), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), and Maxine Waters (D-CA) co-chaired a second forum on ending U.S. military operations in Iraq and bringing U.S. troops home, while helping the Iraqis regain control over their country and their future.
“Today we are here to discuss questions that, quite frankly, no one in Washington - not the president, not the secretary of defense, not Congressional leaders - seems to want to ask, let alone answer,” said Lee. “But the American people are asking: when and under what circumstances are our troops coming home from Iraq? I believe they deserve an answer.”
Lee, as well as Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Tom Allen (D-ME), discussed legislative proposals to bring the troops home and prevent the establishment of permanent military bases in Iraq.
“As long as we keep the door to a permanent military presence open, we will continue to fuel the insurgency, undermine the security situation and keep the targets on our troops backs,” said Lee. “We must make our policy on this clear, and I will continue to encourage my colleagues to join the 81 members of both parties who have co-sponsored H.Con.Res. 197 and send a clear message on this issue. There are lots of disagreements about Iraq, but I think we can all agree that we should not be there permanently.”
Other witnesses included:
- Paul Pillar, Former National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000-2005 and long career in the CIA, faculty member of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University, and author of Foreign Affairs feature article in March/April issue entitled “Intelligence, Policy, and the War in Iraq.”
- Ms. Faiza al-Araji, a native Shia Iraqi, married to a Sunni Iraqi, currently lives in Amman, Jordan, who spoke about her family’s experiences in Iraq before and during the war and subsequent occupation.
- Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, who recently put her medical career on hold to visit with family members in Iraq, and recently returned from a three-month stay in Basra and Baghdad, and describe her experiences in Iraq and discuss the life of Iraqis under occupation.
- Charlie Anderson (Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class, U.S. Navy-Ret.), who served with the Marine Crops’ Second Tank Battalion during the invasion of Iraq and is now the Southeast Regional Coordinator of Iraq Veterans Against the War and discussed his experiences in the military during the war in Iraq.
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