You're Nothing To Me Now

Ramstad crosses party lines; votes in favor of Iraq resolution:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., sided with Democrats Wednesday in support of a resolution against President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

"The original mission of U.S. troops in Iraq was to liberate the country and turn it over to the Iraqi people," Ramstad said in a House speech. "We need to get back to that original mission."

Ramstad, a moderate who often crosses party lines, said that the resolution Congress passed in 2002 authorizing force against Iraq "was never intended to provide justification for sending 21,500 more American troops into the middle of a civil war."

Not exactly a profile in courage by the Rammer. Especially when you compare his comments to that of Representative Sam Johnson from Texas, a former POW from the Vietnam War, who delivered the closing statement on the Iraq resolution debate:

We POWs were still in Vietnam when Washington cut the funding for Vietnam. I know what it does to morale and mission success. Words can not fully describe the horrendous damage of the anti-American efforts against the war back home to the guys on the ground.

Our captors would blare nasty recordings over the loud speaker of Americans protesting back home...tales of Americans spitting on Vietnam veterans when they came home...and worse.

We must never, ever let that happen again.

The pain inflicted by your country's indifference is tenfold that inflicted by your ruthless captors.

Our troops--and their families--want, need and deserve the full support of the country--and the Congress. Moms and dads watching the news need to know that the Congress will not leave their sons and daughters in harm's way without support.

And:

Debating non-binding resolutions aimed at earning political points only destroys morale, stymies success, and emboldens the enemy.

The grim reality is that this House measure is the first step to cutting funding of the troops...Just ask John Murtha about his "slow-bleed" plan that hamstrings our troops in harm's way.

Now it's time to stand up for my friends who did not make it home--and those who fought and died in Iraq--so I can keep my promise that when we got home we would quit griping about the war and do something positive about it...and we must not allow this Congress to leave these troops like the Congress left us.

Today, let my body serve as a brutal reminder that we must not repeat the mistakes of the past... instead learn from them.

We must not cut funding for our troops. We must stick by them. We must support them all the way...To our troops we must remain...always faithful.

God bless you and I salute you all.