National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
Oct. 6, 2004
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE REFORM ACT OF 2004
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is my understanding I have 10 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let me say that-
Mr. STEVENS. The Senator has 10 minutes on his time on the 1 hour to which the Senator is entitled.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, if the Senator will check the record, he will find that without exception I have always yielded for a question but I was in a difficult position because the Senator from Delaware wanted to speak after me. In the entire amount of time given to me, I would have been happy to yield.
I think, frankly, dialog between two Senators is something perilously close to debate in the Senate, which we hardly ever have. I am sorry we did not have that opportunity, but I think we have the opportunity at this moment.
What I hear from the Senator from Alaska is that we should show respect for the Office of the Presidency. I could not agree more. Whether the President is of my party or any other party, he should be given respect. Even if I disagree with that President, his policy or his statements, I am hoping that I will always be viewed as a person who has that respect for the Office of the Presidency. That is the least that is expected of every single Member of Congress, and I hope the people across the United States.
Having said that, I do not believe that disagreeing with the policies of an administration is disrespectful. In fact, I think it is part of the national debate which makes America so unique.
I do not believe it is disrespectful to say that the information given by the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of State was wrong and misleading. It was. I have never used the word "lie," nor would I because a lie means there was a deliberate misrepresentation. I don't have any evidence there was a deliberate misrepresentation. But there was a misrepresentation, at least in four specific elements. Let me tell you what they were.
The administration misled the American people in believing there were weapons of mass destruction-an arsenal of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons set to strike countries in the Middle East as well as the United States-in Iraq before our invasion. We know now, based on clear and convincing evidence, there is no indication that Saddam Hussein ever had these arsenals of weapons of mass destruction. So when the President and the administration said that to justify the invasion, they were wrong. The American people were misled. That is a fact.
Point No. 2, this administration misled the American people about the capacity of Iraq to build nuclear weapons. Yesterday I came to the floor and talked about the most recent disclosure about aluminum tubes. The American people were misled into believing Saddam Hussein was about to become a nuclear power, threatening the region and the United States. The administration was wrong. The American people were misled.
Point No. 3, the administration said there was linkage, and I quoted this morning direct quotes from Vice President Cheney. They argued there was linkage between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 tragedy in America; that somehow Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida were consorting to attack the United States. We have seen repeatedly through the 9/11 Commission Report, the Senate Intelligence Committee report, as well as clear statements now, today, by the Secretary of Defense, that was wrong. The American people were misled. That is a fact.
These elements are facts that cannot be denied. To say the administration misled the American people is there for the record. I have not said the President lied. But I do say he gave wrong information to the American people, and even the President has conceded that fact. When the Secretary of Defense says there is no linkage, when the President removes the offensive words from the State of the Union Address, he concedes the fact that statements made before the invasion were misleading and they were wrong.
Why in the world can't this administration accept that reality? Why do they have to cling to the fiction that was presented to the American people?
The Senator from Alaska said we should show respect for the Presidency, and I agree. But more important, we need to show respect for the American people. They are the ones we serve, the President and every Member of Congress. We need to show them respect by giving them the clear, unvarnished truth so they understand the facts before we make critical decisions.
We have now lost over 1,050 of our best and brightest and bravest American soldiers in Iraq. We lost them because we invaded that country before we let the inspectors do their job in Iraq, before we created a broad coalition of countries that would join us in this military effort, and here we stand today.
Last night, Vice President Cheney said don't demean the coalition. Other countries stand with us. I certainly respect the fact that they would stand by the side of America. But make no mistake, when you open the morning paper, regularly, virtually every morning you learn of the death of another American soldier. It is American soldiers who are fighting and dying in Iraq in much greater numbers, even, than any other country I should say, and much greater numbers than I think should be the case.
Had this President done the same thing his father did, gone to the United Nations for approval of our invasion, put together a coalition of nations which included Arab nations-President Bush's father understood that, in the Persian Gulf. He knew that to bring in Arab nations as part of the coalition meant there would be less resentment in Arab states for our action. This President did not wait to bring in an Arab state to help us in this coalition of the willing. As a consequence, the resentment against the actions of the United States in the Arab world has been growing apace, and we have found the recruiting efforts to find more terrorists to not only invade Iraq and kill our soldiers but to spread around the world are mushrooming. Are we safer today because of that invasion, because we didn't build the coalition? I think not.
I am glad Saddam Hussein is in prison. I am glad he is out of power. But don't diminish the cost to the United States and the fact that there is no end in sight to this war in Iraq.
There was no plan from this administration to execute this war and protect our troops with body armor, with Humvees armored, with protective equipment on helicopters, and certainly we understand today, based on Ambassador Bremer's statements just 2 days ago, that we didn't have a sufficient number of troops to bring stability to the region.
We are paying the price for those bad decisions. Statements were made by this administration that were wrong and misleading. Decisions were made that clearly evidence that we were not prepared, as we should have been. We are paying that price, and there is no end in sight.
If the Senator from Alaska suggests it is disrespectful to the President to raise these issues, I respectfully disagree with him. It is our obligation to have an open, honest, national debate about the foreign policy of this country, which involves families far and wide in Illinois, Alaska, and around the United States.
I reserve the remainder of my time.