WASHINGTON – Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11) today cast of vote of “present” on H. Res. 861, which the proponent of victory in Iraq deemed “strategically nebulous, morally obtuse, and woefully inadequate.” McCotter never considered voting against the resolution, because he supported the intent of the resolution – namely to win the world War on Terror – and its honoring of America’s heroic men and women in uniform and their families.
The House passed the resolution after more than 10 hours of debate. Rep. McCotter, who has traveled to Iraq three times, said the resolution did not fulfill the House’s duty to provide the American public with a truthful assessment of the “situation, stakes, and strategy for victory in the battle for Iraq and the overarching War on Terror.
“The House must not parse and equivocate in its statements regarding the War on Terror,” said McCotter, who was particularly disturbed the resolution termed terrorists our “adversary” rather than our “enemy.” “In the Cold War, President Reagan had the moral courage to call communist Russia an ‘evil empire.’ In the War on Terror, the U.S. House must have the moral courage to call Al Qaeda our enemy,” he said.
McCotter then added a final, cautionary note: “Remember: unlike most, the enemy will read this resolution. It had to more surely and strongly tell our enemy we are going to annihilate him and win.”