Peter DeFazio

Second, the resolution contains the blatantly false assertion that negotiating a timeline for bringing U.S. troops home with the Iraqi government undermines U.S. national security. Such a statement shows a misunderstanding of the enemy we face in Iraq.

To the contrary, I believe the U.S. military has already done all that has been asked of them. Saddam Hussein is on trial. The threat from alleged weapons of mass destruction programs in Iraq has been neutralized.

The U.S. cannot force Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds to make peace or to act for the common good. They have been in conflict for 1,400 years.

Nor should the U.S. military be forced to remain in Iraq essentially as an army for one side of a civil war.

The U.S. must renounce any U.S. interest in constructing permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.

In recent years, breweries and brew pubs have flourished across the Nation. And, as the Representative from Oregon's fourth district, I have enjoyed seeing the diversity that craft brewery has fueled across the Nation.

Essentially, when we run a deficit, we are borrowing money to buy things that are made overseas.

The U.S. cannot impose freedom, security, and unity in Iraq by force.

Even the majority of the Sunnis have grown tired of foreign terrorists operating in Iraq.

Of the 55 refineries closed in America in the last 10 years, they were all closed for economic reasons, mostly oil company mergers. Not a single one was closed for environmental purposes or objections.

There is a lot of lip service paid in this Congress and downtown at the White House about family values and small business. Who better represents family values and small business than the fishermen and women on the Oregon and California coast.

The training and equipping of Iraqi security forces should be accelerated.