Skip to main content

Pelosi: 'It is Inexcusable that Our Troops in Iraq Do Not Have All the Body Armor They Need'

January 10, 2005

Pelosi: 'It is Inexcusable that Our Troops in Iraq Do Not Have All the Body Armor They Need'

January 10, 2006

Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to President Bush's speech on Iraq in Washington to the Veterans of Foreign Wars:

"In his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars today, President Bush acknowledged that it was appropriate for the loyal opposition to point out what was wrong with his Iraq policies. Let us be clear: our loyalty is to our troops, our Constitution, and our country.

"Our loyalty demands that we continue to remind the President that it is not only wrong but it is inexcusable, as we near the third anniversary of the war in Iraq, that our troops still do not have all the body armor they need to keep them safer. We will remind him that it is wrong to continue to suggest, without any evidence, that the insurgents in Iraq had something to do with the September 11 attacks. And we will remind him that it is wrong for him to fail to include the costs of the war in his budget in an attempt to mislead the American people about the true size of the budget deficit.

"Democrats welcome the kind of open and honest debate about Iraq the President claims to want -- even in an election year. It is regrettable that during the last election campaign, when the President was a candidate, he chose to avoid that kind of debate. It is even more regrettable that from its inception and continuing to this moment, the absence of open and honest debate has been one of the hallmarks of this war."