[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 75 (Wednesday, June 2, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE PRICE OF GIVING BAD ADVICE

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                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 2, 2004

  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, William A. Whitlow is a retired major 
general in the Marine Corps. During his service to our nation, he 
served as director of the expeditionary warfare division in the office 
of the deputy chief of naval operations. He wrote a compelling and 
informative opinion piece, which appeared in last Sunday's Washington 
Post. In the piece, Mr. Whitlow discusses the dismal situation in Iraq, 
and the poor counsel the president received from his advisors leading 
up to the conflict.
  I ask unanimous consent that this piece appear in the Congressional 
Record and I encourage all of my colleagues to read it.

                [From the Washington Post, May 30, 2004]

                     The Price Of Giving Bad Advice

                        (By William A. Whitlow)

       As the war in Iraq drags on, conservative citizens, mostly 
     Republican, face a growing dilemma in the November election.
       In the face of growing evidence that the president was 
     deceived and misguided about the cause and urgency for waging 
     war on Saddam Hussein, it is time for those responsible to 
     stand forth and accept accountability. True, the president is 
     ultimately responsible for the actions of his vice president, 
     his Cabinet and the executive departments. But it has become 
     clear that the counsel the president received from the vice 
     president, secretary of defense, deputy secretary of defense 
     and senior uniformed leadership was severely flawed and 
     uncorroborated. Whether the president was intentionally 
     misled by neoconservatives or whether their advice was a 
     result of pure incompetence remains to be seen. The fact is 
     that he was misled sufficiently to require him to take bold 
     action to restore his diminished credibility.
       The supposedly urgent need to attack Iraq was based partly 
     on inflated, creative intelligence information, some of which 
     originated with Ahmed Chalabi, an associate of the vice 
     president and deputy secretary of defense. The information 
     from Chalabi led the vice president and defense secretary to 
     believe that war with Iraq would be a ``cakewalk'' and U.S. 
     forces would be received with open arms. This belief resulted 
     in a fatal flaw in developing a complete war strategy. A 
     principal tenet of forming a strategy--have a ``war 
     termination'' phase--was neglected. Although the tactical and 
     operational phases of the war were conducted flawlessly by 
     superior field commanders, the absence of a complete strategy 
     has needlessly cost lives.
       Our service members are the ultimate victims of this 
     incomplete strategy, misguided policy and false intelligence. 
     It is inconceivable and derelict not to have a viable war 
     termination strategy for an operation as complex as a major 
     theater war. America's citizens and our service members 
     deserve far better for their sacrifices. This combination of 
     things--misleading the president with false intelligence and 
     omitting a principal element from our war strategy--is reason 
     enough to seek change in the vice presidency and senior 
     defense leadership, civilian and military.
       It is our patriotic duty to speak out when egregiously 
     flawed policies and strategies needlessly cost American 
     lives. It is time for the president to ask those responsible 
     for the flawed Iraqi policy--civilian and military--to resign 
     from public service. Absent such a change in the current 
     administration, many of us will be forced to choose a 
     presidential candidate whose domestic policies we may not 
     like but who understands firsthand the effects of flawed 
     policies and incompetent military strategies and who fully 
     comprehends the price.

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