[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 167 (Tuesday, November 18, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15054-S15055]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CAMBODIAN MOMENT

  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, a few moments ago I read an article that 
appeared in The State newspaper of Columbia, SC: ``Misled and 
Undermanned: the Truth on Iraq.'' It was prepared by my dear friend and 
colleague, Ernest F. Hollings, the senior Senator of South Carolina.
  His words reminded me of sad moments--reminded me of a divided 
America--and reminded me of the pain we all experienced. I do hope my 
colleagues will set aside a few moments to read and reflect on these 
thoughts of my dear friend from South Carolina.
  I do not believe that Senator Hollings wrote this article with any 
other motive than to share his candid observations as someone who was 
there and who understands well the situation currently before us. His 
words are thought-provoking, and deserve the attention of all of our 
colleagues.
  I ask unanimous consent that Senator Hollings' article be printed in 
the Record:
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               Misled and Undermanned: The Truth on Iraq

                    (By Senator Ernest F. Hollings)

       The majority leader of the Senate, Mike Mansfield, quietly 
     opposed the war in Vietnam for years. He had a practice of 
     writing memos in opposition to the war to Presidents Johnson 
     and Nixon while publicly supporting the war on the floor of 
     the Senate. But finally, when Cambodia was invaded under 
     President Nixon, he snapped.
       Going on television, he said Vietnam was a mistake from the 
     get-go. The next day he received a letter from an admirer who 
     had just lost her son. She said: ``I just buried my son to 
     come home and watch you say that the Vietnam War was a 
     mistake from the beginning. Why didn't you speak out 
     sooner?''
       I came to the Senate in 1966, and if Mansfield, an expert 
     on the Far East, had spoken out at that time, we might have 
     saved 50,000 lives. I have reached my ``Cambodian moment.''
       In August and September of 2002, President Bush, Vice 
     President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleeza 
     Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld all cautioned that 
     Saddam was reconstituting a nuclear program. On September 8, 
     the vice president said that we ``know with absolute 
     certainty'' that this was what Saddam was about; then on 
     October 7, President Bush went further, saying, ``Facing 
     clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof--
     the smoking gun--that could come in the form of a mushroom 
     cloud.'' Four days later, I voted for the Iraq resolution.
       I was misled. Saddam was not reconstituting a nuclear 
     program, and is no way was he connected to 9/11. There were 
     no terrorists in Baghdad, no weapons of mass destruction, and 
     Saddam was no threat to our national security. Iraq was not a 
     part of the war on terrorism.
       Now we have another Vietnam. Just as President Johnson 
     misled us in Vietnam, President Bush has misled us into Iraq. 
     As in Vietnam, they have not met us in the streets hailing 
     democracy. Thousands of miles away, we are once again 
     ``fighting for the hearts and minds.'' Again, we are trying 
     to build and destroy. Again, we are bogged down in a 
     guerrilla war. Again, we are not allowing our troops to fight 
     and win--we do not have enough troops. Again, we can't get 
     in, can't get out. Again, instead of Vietnamizing Vietnam, we 
     are trying to Iraqify Iraq. And already, with Rumsfeld's 
     memo, we have the Pentagon papers.
       Once more we are blaming intelligence. It's not bad 
     intelligence; it's because we refuse to listen to good 
     intelligence, like that from General Brent Scowcroft. We had 
     plenty of warnings.
       Iraq was under sanctions. We were overflying the north and 
     the south; and you can bet your boots Israel knew whether or 
     not Saddam had nuclear systems. Its survival depends on 
     knowing. Iraq was no more a part of the war on terrorism than 
     North Korea.
       If the troops are to fight, there are too few. If they are 
     to die, there are too many. My goal is to stop the killing 
     and injuring of our GI's. To support the troops, we need more 
     troops--at least 100,000 more. Get in, clean

[[Page S15055]]

     out Baghdad and the Sunni triangle. Get law and order. Then 
     get a constitution and victory. But since General Eric 
     Shinseki said we need ``several hundred thousand troops,'' 
     Secretary Rumsfeld is determined not to send troops, but to 
     argue structure. ``Operation Meatgrinder'' continues.
       Apparently, the game plan is to give 200,000 hungry Iraqis 
     a uniform, a square meal, and then announce we have security 
     and leave. We'll end up with exactly what Secretary Rumsfeld 
     said we wouldn't have--a Shiite democracy, or another Iran. 
     And, of course, a lot more terrorism.
       For the first time in history, this administration, this 
     Congress, will not pay for the war. And for the Guardsmen we 
     are sending this time, Washington hopes they don't get killed 
     so that they can hurry back and be given the bill. We are not 
     going to pay for it; we need a tax cut.
       We should have listened to former President ``Papa'' Bush, 
     who wrote in A World transformed, ``we should not march into 
     Baghdad . . . turning the whole Arab world against us .  . . 
     assigning young soldiers . . . to fight in what would be an 
     unwinnable urban guerrilla war.''

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