Lee Terry just emailed this message out to his constituents about the U.S. House Iraq War Supplemental Funding Bill H.R. 1591. As Dave wrote, this is a bill that recently passed the House, but which Terry voted against. Also voting against the Iraq Bill were Nebraska’s Adrian Smith and Jeff Fortenberry.
Dear Mr. xxxxxx:
The House of Representatives has just approved by a vote of 218 to 212 H.R. 1591, which takes a “slow-bleed” approach to end U.S. efforts in Iraq . I voted against this deplorable bill and urged my colleagues to demand from the House Leadership a “clean” emergency spending bill that will meet the needs of our troops.
Congressman Sam Johnson, a former Vietnam POW, urged Members to vote this bill down. “Marines never quit,” Johnson said. “Neither should we.” For Congressman Johnson’s full remarks: www.house.gov/terry . (Emphasis Added)
Sincerely,
LEE TERRY
Member of Congress
11717 Burt Street, Suite 106
Omaha, NE 68154
Phone: 402-397-9944
http://leeterry.house.gov
Besides the blatant lie that this bill does not fully fund the troops, Terry makes another key point in the message. By quoting Rep. Johnson’s “never quit” statement, Terry aligns himself with a fringe-right-wing element of the Republican Party.
This wing of the GOP supports a never-ending war in the Middle East and can think of no reason or situation so bad that they could imagine voting to bring our troops home.
Terry goes on to say in his full statement:
Members of Congress should not be dictating strategy to our generals in the field.
But what Terry fails to realize is that this bill doesn’t dictate tactics, or strategy; the bill doesn’t go into micromanaging; instead it sets policy.
The majority of Americans want to see benchmarks for success in Iraq, they want to see us start to bring troops home, not send more into policing the Iraqi Civil War.
But hey, now the Democrats are on the record trying to end this war… and the Republicans are on the record trying to keep going… forever.