Rep. Neil Abercrombie Statement
on 4,000 American Deaths in Iraq  

Honolulu, Hawaii -- “Four thousand American men and women killed in Iraq; 30,000 injured in a war that shouldn’t have been fought and a military occupation the Bush Administration doesn’t know how to end. 

"$12 billion a month; $200,000 a minute; $3,000 a second — all of it borrowed — to stay there.  A few months ago, Sunni militias were killing Americans.  Now, we’re paying them $10 per day per person — $24 million a month — not to kill Americans.

"Four-thousand American men and women died so Sunni and Shi’a and Kurdish Iraqis could build a stable, unified government.  But they’re not much more stable or unified today than they were five years ago, before 4,000 Americans died. 

"The Bush Administration — and John McCain — tell us we’re winning so we can’t leave Iraq.  But if we’re winning, why are our troops stuck there?

"Vice President Cheney summed up the Bush Administration’s reaction to the American public: 'So?' 

"Four-thousand American men and women killed in Iraq.  This war must end now.  I will continue to do all I can to bring this about."

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