[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 20, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H2158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 A CALL FOR HEARINGS ON THE WAR IN IRAQ

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, we now know the truth was the first 
casualty of the President's war in Iraq. Ironically, the truth was not 
shot down by a cruise missile but by the Commander in Chief.
  Instead of openly telling Congress and the American people that he 
wanted to take out Saddam, the President secretly diverted $700 million 
from the war in Afghanistan to prepare for the invasion in Iraq without 
telling the Congress, $700 million meant to help find and deal with 
Osama bin Laden on behalf of the 9/11 victims, on behalf of America.
  Another Republican in the White House the last time America faced 
this secrecy was Richard Nixon, whose legacy is a profound mistrust in 
government that lingers to this day.
  Just as America did 3 decades ago, it is time to shine the bright 
light of an open and democratic society on what the administration did. 
I call on the Speaker and the Congress to hold hearings, just as 
America did during Watergate, to get to the truth, the whole truth, and 
nothing but the truth about the President's war in Iraq.




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