John Conyers, Jr. -- ConyersBlog

More GOP Hypocrisy On Iraq and Protecting Our Troops

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised to learn that the GOP's support for the troops does not ordinarly extend beyond rhetoric to real life policy choices. After all, Rumsfeld admitted he was willing to go to war without adequate armor to protect the troops, their budget would gut veterans benefits, and they put the interests of greedy lenders ahead of our brave troops when it came to the recently enacted bankruptcy bill.

But yesterday, the House Republicans suprised even me when they voted in near lock step against prohibiting companies from defrauding our government with regard to Iraq War reconstruction. At the end of the debate of a broad crime bill concerning gangs and many, many other issues, Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) offered a final amendment (referred to as a 'motion to recommit') to prohibit war contract fraud. The Republicans voted it down, on a 198-227 basis, with only two Republicans voting to do the right thing. Amazingly, the GOP didn't even bother to explain why they were against the measure -- they basically just said they were against gang violence and that was it -- nothing about the Haliburton overcharges or the War. I've included the text of Rep. Tierney's statement and Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) rather meek response below in the extended entry.

Semper Fi