[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 62 (Thursday, May 6, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4942-S4943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ACCOUNTABILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I want to read the first two paragraphs of 
an editorial that appeared in the New York Times today, written by 
Thomas Friedman.

       We are in danger of losing something much more important 
     than just the war in Iraq. We are in danger of losing America 
     as an instrument of moral authority and inspiration in the 
     world. I have never known a time in my life when America and 
     its president were more hated around the world than today. I 
     was just in Japan, and even young Japanese dislike us. It's 
     no wonder that so many Americans are obsessed with the finale 
     of the sitcom ``Friends'' right now. They're the only friends 
     we have, and even they're leaving.
       This administration needs to undertake a total overhaul of 
     its Iraq policy; otherwise, it is courting a total disaster 
     for us all.

  I have been married for more than four decades, and there have been a 
lot of things that I think have made our marriage a success. I married 
a girl I met in high school. The main thing that has been good for our 
marriage is the ability for both of us to say ``I'm sorry.''

  Relations in other aspects of our lives are based on the same 
principles of relationship that couples have. For example, the 
foundations of nations, of countries are formed by relationships 
between people.
  When I got home last night, my wife said words to me to the effect: I 
watched all the news today. Why couldn't the President say he was 
sorry?
  I had no answer for that. I flipped on the television set. The first 
two people I saw on TV interviewing others asked the same question: Why 
couldn't the President say he was sorry. Why couldn't the President say 
he was sorry, not only for himself but for all Americans? This is 
expected in America.
  I guess he couldn't say he was sorry for the same reason that in his 
last press conference he couldn't say he had made a mistake. I add this 
to the list of mistakes that are paramount, No. 1, when he claimed on 
the aircraft carrier, with his flight suit that he borrowed from 
somebody, that major combat was over, and had the banner ``mission 
accomplished.'' The mission was not accomplished. He should have 
acknowledged that as a mistake. Then just a few days later, when 
someone said there are problems going on in Iraq, he said: ``Bring it 
on.'' Well, we have almost 800 dead men and women. I think that was a 
mistake.
  It was a mistake yesterday when he had the time and the ability to 
say he was sorry. I don't have the position and power of the President 
of the United States; I know that. But I have the ability to say that 
all America is sorry for what went on in the prisoner of war camps in 
Iraq. What went on in those prison camps does not represent America or 
its valiant military men and women.
  We have so many reasons to be proud of what our Armed Forces have 
done for this country, not just over the last couple of years but since 
our founding. We are reminded of that heroic service as we look out on 
The Mall. We are going to dedicate in a couple of weeks a memorial to 
the 16 million men and women who served in World War II. On Memorial 
Day, during that dedication, we will not only remember the 16 million 
who served but the nearly 800 who have lost their lives in Iraq.
  One of the hallmarks of our military in this great democracy is that 
our military is controlled not by soldiers, sailors, and airmen, but by 
civilians. We maintain this critical feature of our system with checks 
and balances by having a Commander in Chief who is a civilian. The 
Secretary of Defense and his deputies are civilians, so these remarks 
are directed to the civilian leadership of our military.
  Harry Truman was a war President. He had a sign on his desk that 
said, ``The buck stops here.'' He knew that in any administration there 
would be mistakes, and he accepted responsibility for mistakes that 
occurred on his watch.
  President Truman knew it was important to admit mistakes and take 
responsibility so the mistakes would not be repeated. He knew if we 
didn't admit mistakes, we couldn't learn from them.
  The current administration has made some mistakes, and I have 
outlined some of them. We know in the first gulf war 90 percent of the 
war costs were paid for by other countries, and our allies provided 
about 200,000 troops. But in this war we are bearing 90 percent of the 
cost and taking 90 percent of the casualties. They said Iraqi oil 
revenues would pay to rebuild the country, but we keep appropriating 
more money and are being asked to come up with $25 billion more.
  Vice President Cheney predicted that our soldiers would be greeted as 
heroes, bouquets would be thrown. Bombs are being thrown instead. We 
are now hearing that the administration received warnings about the 
treatment of prisoners months ago, but those warnings were not taken 
seriously.
  Last week, when Secretary Rumsfeld was in the Capitol in 407, the 
room where we hear classified information, we weren't told that ``60 
Minutes'' that very night would have a story about mistreatment of 
prisoners, with pictures of naked men, Iraqi prisoners, to humiliate 
them. Now it has humiliated America. We should have been warned about 
that. They knew or should have known that they were about to become 
public and that they would affect the course of events in the ongoing 
war on terror. After the civilian leadership has claimed for months 
that it needed no more money, we are now asked for $25 billion.
  This is not to cast stones but to cast responsibility. Mistakes 
always have consequences. In war, the consequences are a matter of life 
or death. We talk in

[[Page S4943]]

the Senate about accountability. We want schoolteachers and public 
employees to be accountable. But we must look beyond that at why our 
civilian military should also be held accountable.
  Our Founding Fathers believed that the civilian leaders of our 
military should be held accountable. I share that belief. I hope the 
President does.
  The time has been allocated to my friends. Senator Kohl has 5 
minutes; Senator Feingold, 8 minutes; Senator Kennedy, 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.

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