Intelligence Information

INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I very much share the view of the Senator from Indiana. I simply say that a lot of paper floats around Capitol Hill that never sees the light of day. The document that has to guide the members of the Intelligence Committee—both Democrats and Republicans—is the Constitution of the United States. That is the tone that our vice chairman, Senator Rockefeller, has consistently set throughout this effort to get at the facts with respect to Iraq. That is the path I think every Member of the Senate ought to continue to follow. It ought to be a bipartisan goal. The American people deserve no less.

There are legitimate and very troubling questions that need to be answered about the intelligence used to bring this Nation to war in Iraq. In fact, serious issues have come up just in the last week.

I will say that I found it exceptionally troubling—really chilling—that just last week, Paul Bremer, who is the point man with respect to the efforts on the ground in Iraq, was asked about the nature of the Iraqi resistance and in fact was told there really wasn't a capability in the intelligence community to give our country the information that is so necessary to protect our courageous men and women who are in harm's way.

That is the kind of issue about which I think every Member of the Senate ought to be concerned. That is what the Intelligence Committee ought to be tackling in a bipartisan way. That is what Senator Rockefeller has consistently been trying to do.

We can go through a lot of the past history. Certainly, in discussions about weapons of mass destruction, we were told right here in the U.S. Capitol on a number of occasions that those weapons have not materialized. There are issues with respect to the past that need to be examined. There are issues such as the point Mr. Bremer made just in the last week that I think are very troubling.

I just urge that every Member of the Senate—and certainly those on the Intelligence Committee—recognize it is not the paper that floats around here that may or may not see the light of day and various kinds of draft documents that are important; what is important is that we do the work of oversight. That is what is in line with the document that ought to guide us—the Constitution of the United States. And that is what Senator Rockefeller has set out for us in his work. I commend him for it.

I yield the floor.