I think it should be mandatory that every Congressman takes a brief trip to Iraq

[mtnsnake]

...every single one, Republican and Democrat alike. I'm not talking about the usual kind of trip either, nor am I talking about them going all at once, but maybe several at a time for a week at a time...until each and every one of them has gone over to observe.

In their week long stays, they should all be required to visit the hospitals...see first hand the burns, the amputees, the eardrums blown out, eyes lost, sides of faces missing...all the maiming and the suffering going on.

Also mandatory on their trip should be visits to the devastated homes of Iraqi citizens who have lost loved ones in the bombings. That won't be hard to find. Our stone cold Congress people need to see and hear with their own two eyes and ears the frantic sobbing and misery taking place within the walls of those homes. They need to hear family members wailing out loud, out of control, over all of their personal loss of life. They need to see how life will never be the same again for those people.

Maybe if they could actually taste what war is all about, maybe there would be some hope that they just might think twice about using their war toys in the future. Maybe the recurring nightmares they'd experience would have a positive effect.

[BR_Parkway]

1. Do we have to let them all come back? Shouldn't the most vocal

supporters of Shrub's war stay there for a while and enjoy the fruits of their rubberstamping? Some of them would have so much more credibility making their speeches from a podium outside the Green Zone then they currently do on the floor of Congress...

[mtnsnake]

2. Good point. Anyway, they all should have to experience the horrors of war first hand

How long some of them should stay is debatable.

[peace13]

3. I like the idea.

We can tell them the trip is 'brief' but extend their visit after they get there, for as long we feel is needed.