mr. speaker , i yield myself 2 minutes . 
mr. speaker , to suggest that the rules committee respects a deliberative process in this house or that it is somehow democratic or receptive to alternative ideas , i think demonstrates to me that the chairman has pretty low standards when it comes to being inclusive . 
the bottom line is , on important issues , on important matters like this one , we are routinely shut out . 
i mean , the chairman may be on board with what the president is doing in iraq , but there are many of us who have great concerns . 
and the fact of the matter is , the section that is controversial in this bill deserves debate , not in the context of this resolution , but we should be on this floor debating this for a period of time and let everybody have their chance to present their viewpoint on what our policy should be in iraq . 
we should be debating iraq almost every day . 
i mean , we are at war . 
we have lost 2 , 100 american servicemen and women ; 15 , 000 are wounded . 
we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars , and we do not like to talk about it except in the context of these resolutions that kind of get dropped on us and brought to the floor ; and we are supposed to praise our troops , which we all do . 
we want to congratulate the democratic voting in iraq , which we all do . 
but then tucked into this is a provision which some of us find objectionable . 
this administration has a credibility gap , in my opinion , when it comes to iraq . 
we have been misled too often , and it is time to demand the truth . 
it is not acceptable to embrace an open-ended u.s. policy toward iraq that suggests that we put all our faith in the president . 
he has been wrong on everything . 
there were no weapons of mass destruction . 
there was no tie to al qaeda . 
there was no imminent threat to the united states from iraq , and he rushed us into war . 
he said we would be greeted as liberators . 
here we are approaching the third year . 
we are not greeted as liberators . 
we are stuck in a mess . 
mr. speaker , i will also point out to the chairman of the rules committee that if you read the front page of today 's washington post it says , `` iraqi vote draws big turnout of sunnis. '' underneath , subheadline , `` anti-u.s. sentiment is motivator for many. '' a majority of the people in iraq want us to begin the process of withdrawal ; and what you are asking us to do is to embrace a resolution that says we will be there for as long as the president wants us , and that is unacceptable . 
mr. speaker , i yield 2 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from texas ( mr. doggett ) xz4001110 . 
