The War in Iraq:

        Do you recall the President flying onto the deck of the aircraft carrier? Remember the speech he gave about the war in Iraq? The President announced the end of hostilities and proudly proclaimed

“MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”

The brave service men and women of the Armed Forces, having volunteered to defend this great country, have followed the President's, the Vice President’s and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s war plan as ordered. Our service men and women are heroes. Our heres won that war.
The occupation of Iraq followed. Remember how those in the Bush Administration claimed that our soldiers would be greeted with flowers and candy? Bush people boasted that the Iraqis would lay down their arms and that our troops would be greeted as liberators. The Bush team told us that Iraqis would flock to democracy - even though in over 2000 years of civilization, Iraq had never been democratic. The Bush team justified the war by claiming that the Iraqi oil fields would be up and running and would cover the costs of the war. Oil, they said, would cover the cost of rebuilding Iraq, also! All this to sell a war on Iraq. Neo-cons lined up to claim that Iraq meant us harm. They insisted that Iraq was a threat to America. Iraq, they said, was dangerous because it harbored terrorists and possessed weapons of mass destruction. The Bush-Miller team, indeed the entire Bush Administration, took their eyes off the ball (Afghanistan) and moved them to Iraq.
The war has now entered its sixth year. America has suffered this war longer than it suffered World War II. Vice President Cheney is the only one who still thinks the weapons of mass destruction are there in Iraq waiting to be found. The Commander In Chief, George W. Bush, has decided to admit that Iraq had no role in the attack on the World Trade Center Towers. Iraq is no closer to a functioning democracy than they were before the start of the war. Islamic religious factions work to divide Iraq. America is occupying a nation that is in the throes of a civil war. Sometimes the fighting is hot, sometimes it's cold. Through it all, forcing peace and cooperation between the religious factions in Iraq has proven impossible. The monetary cost of the Iraq quagmire is being paid by the American taxpayer. Much of the cost of the war is being charged to America's next generation through defecit spending. The war has spawned incredible levels of corporate corruption. Billions of tax-payer dollars are simply missing! Companies like Halliburton continue to receive no-bid contract awards. Other corporations, like Blackwater, send high-paid gunmen into Iraq as lawless mercenaries. They kill whomever they please and answer to no one.

Blood and Treasure

The most tragic cost of this war is that over 3100 Americans that have given their lives. Almost 51,000 American soldiers have been injured, maimed or have come home bearing the scars of war. Statistics show that approximately eight Iraq veterans a DAY commit suicide! They paid for the trip home with limbs that stayed on the battle field. They will continue to do so, as long as President Bush continues to insist "THE SURGE IS WORKING - STAY THE COURSE!”. The suffering will continue as long as Representative Miller supports this failed occupation and George W. Bush. George Bush may be the least popular President in several generations, but he still ranks well with Rep. Miller.
While Rep. Miller claims to support the troops, her actions continue to belie her words. When the House of Representatives had the opportunity to provide our combat troops an extra $1500 bonus, Representative Miller voted against it. When a vote was taken to give reservists a year off for a year served in combat, Miller voted against that, too!
When the House of Representatives had the opportunity to give the Armed Forces Reserves, up to 40% of whom have no medical insurance, the same health care insurance plan as our active duty soldiers, Miller voted against it. While shorting our combat troops money and time with their families, Representative Miller voted for the tax cuts for oil companies, thus throwing billions of dollars in windfall profits at big oil. In Iraq, over eight billion dollars is unaccounted for. Has Representative Miller asked her fellow Republicans to open an investigation? As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Miller had a responsibility to do so. Did she? Best to not hold your breath on that.
So who is Representative Miller REALLY giving her support to? It is certainly not our troops! She continues to urge the voters of Michigan's 10th District to “STAY THE COURSE” in spite of where it is taking us. Example: The Marines instituted an involuntary recall of troops back to Iraq. Some of these soldiers will be starting their fourth tour of duty! That is war as a way of life. Since there is still no exit strategy or timetable to bring our troops home, we have been given no choice but to "stay the course". The involuntary recall of Reservists, regular Army troops and Marines is little more than a back-door draft. Men and women are being deployed for multiple tours of duty, to beyond the point of exhaustion, with no support from the Bush administration. It is time to end the war and bring our soldiers home.

The United States Armed Forces are intended to be used to defend the citizens and interests of the United States. They are not the world’s policemen and they certainly were not intended for “Nation Building”. It’s time to stop squandering the lives and limbs of our servicemen. Bush-Miller has crippled our once strong military!
As your Congressman, I will continue to oppose the war in Iraq. The war in Iraq was a war of choice, not a war of necessity. It was and is a war of aggression. The financial cost of the war is bankrupting our nation, and increasing our national debt. Final costs of the war on Iraq are now calculated to run more than one point seven TRILLION dollars! Most importantly, it continues to cost the lives and limbs of many young American men and women.
I am not in support of continuing the War on Iraq. To date, the decision to invade Iraq has resulted in over 3615 Americans killed, more than 50,677 Americans injured, more than eight hundred thousand Iraqi civilians have been killed and more than a million and a half have been injured. Are these people going to forget the mayhem the Bush-Miller team has dropped on them? The neo-cons have gifted the Middle East with destabilization the likes of which has never been seen before. Their war has emboldened the leaders of Iran and North Korea. This war has made America LESS safe! At the same time Pakistan has been working to complete a new plutonium reactor that would give them the ability to produce enough plutonium to manufacture up to 50 nuclear bombs per year. Pakistan is believed to be the country where Osama Bin Laden is hiding. Pakistan is a dictatorship! Bush claimed he wanted to spread democracy! The Bush-Miller team continues to do nothing to right their wrongs.
We should begin withdrawal of our troops from Iraq as soon as possible, and by military decision, not political whim. As your Congressman, I would work to support the military leadership to develop a plan that would not let Iraq fall into a full scale civil war, and would allow for our troops to leave as quickly as possible. I would urge a new Democratic administration to work with our allies to provide peacekeeping forces in Iraq. It is time the Iraqis stepped up to the challenges ahead of them. We must end the occupation of Iraq.
It’s time for Representative Miller, the Republican House of Representatives incumbent, to realize what a mistake she has made and acknowledge that now is the time for a COURSE CORRECTION! No member of the U.S. Armed Forces should be forced to serve multiple tours of duty in Iraq.
Finally, if a nation asks a man or a woman to risk their life by going to war, that nation had better see to the well-being of those sacrificial people. There has been public evidence of scandalously poor treatment of some of our veterans. The men and women of America's armed forces deserve the best armor and the best generals. If those fail to keep them from harm, then our veterans deserve the best health care this nation can offer.