Congresswoman Brown made the following speech on the House Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives during debate on H.Con.Res. 63 - Disapproving of the decision of the President announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq:

“I rise in strong support of this Resolution, which declares our support for our brave troops and the American military, yet also expresses disapproval of the President's decision to deploy additional troops to the area.

I am reminded of the words of the first president of the United States, George Washington, who said: ``the willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country.''

My colleagues: A vote to send our young men and women into battle is the most serious vote any Member of this body can make. I support the troops 100%.... But I ask you, when you have your head inside the lion's mouth, how do you get it out?

Now - I did not vote for the war when it first came up as House Joint Resolution 114, which 'authorized the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq,' when it came before the House of Representatives back in October of 2002. I have never supported this war…yet I do not blame my colleagues who voted for it because their vote was on the basis of false, twisted information provided by the Bush administration.

From the very beginning of this conflict the President has been misleading, and to this day, he has continued to intentionally mislead the American public by supplying them with false grounds for going to war....and now he is inventing reasons for us to stay there.

As the President begins to lay down his case for expanding this terrible war into Iran and then into Syria, we see the same false rhetoric: very similar war drums beating in the background: drumming up support for a possible attack on Iran. Since we never found a link between Al Queda and Iraq, we are now trying to hide our failure to control the civil war in IRAQ by blaming the Iranian government for supplying weapons to Iraqi insurgents...there is no proof of this, and even if the weapons are coming in from Iran or other nations, no one is certain this is under the directive of the Iranian leadership….again, the President is telling the American people this is the case, but what reason do we have, what reason does the international community have, to take his word?

This is the same President who claimed to have won the 2000 election in Florida by a total of some 500 votes…. yet I was there. I'm from Florida and I know that in my district alone, there were 27,000 votes that were discarded, so we know there could not have been a 500 vote margin of victory.

I know what the Bush administration is capable of doing when they are set on a goal. They will undertake any means necessary to achieve their ends, even if it means doctoring the information they are supplying to Congress and to the international community to wage a war over oil!

They have provided us with all the justifications, all the sanctimony: frightening the American people into supporting a 600 billion dollar war in Iraq, supposedly to deter terror, whereas in reality it has had, as I have said from the beginning, just the opposite effect, that is, to stir up even more terror against our country, to enrage militants around the world into waging their Jihad against America. In Iraq they have a perfect sitting target: our young American troops out there in the trenches. My colleagues: this war needs to come to an end. We need to bring our troops back, the American people want the troops home: this was a message sent loud and clear to the administration during the November elections, yet they for some reason just don't seem to get the message: nearly 70 percent of the American public wants us out of Iraq…this was the number one issue of importance to voters in the mid term elections, yet the administration continues to ignore them.

We have already spent over half a trillion dollars over there, let me repeat that $600 billion. There was even a period, between May 2003 and June 2004, when our military was carrying huge, wrapped stacks of $100 bills over to Iraq - $12 billion total - in cash! This money was sent over there without oversight, there was no accountability for it! Why, people are now worried that the very same insurgent groups that are battling against our troops may have bought their weapons with this money!

And to put this in perspective for you, to help you visualize this: that amount is equivalent to an entire cruise ship filled with stacks of one hundred dollar bills!! These billions and billions of dollars have been sent to Iraq and are not accounted for...this is purely wasteful spending, without checks or balances…once again, the President has sidestepped this Congress, and continues to push on without Congressional authorization.

As a proud Member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, let me add that if we used just $1.7 billion out of this $600 billion, we could properly fund health care to over one and a half million category 8 veterans.

We are also spending billions and billions of dollars to build the biggest, most fortified embassy in the world in Baghdad. And for what? To put a circle around their oil fields, because, as I said before, that is what this has always been about:  oil.

Again, I commend the troops, but I have a serious problem with their mission and with the people who forced them to undertake this mission.

Over 3,000 Americans have died. Nearly 25,000 have been wounded, and it is estimated that up to 70,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed. How much longer is this going to go on?

The Bush administration gets an F grade for the way they have handled this war. And certainly, the past Congress gets an F too for handing a blank check at their feet with NO oversight! I urge my colleagues to vote YES vote on the Resolution, the troops and the American people are counting on you.”