[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 85 (Friday, June 18, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H4563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE BIG LIE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, this administration is out of control. 
They have made obeying the law a thing of the past.
  They have implemented ``the big lie'' theory of communications. This 
theory takes propaganda to a whole new level.
  Under the big lie, you fabricate a story and call it the truth. You 
disseminate the story as widely as possible. You wrap the propaganda in 
the mantle of national symbols, and you prey upon the fears and 
emotions of your citizens. You repeat the propaganda every day in every 
way. You say it over and over and over again, knowing if you say it 
long enough people will believe it.
  Anyone who dares to question the propaganda becomes the enemy. Any 
evidence to the contrary is hidden, called tainted or dismissed as the 
work of your enemies.
  This is a portrait of America today painted by this administration. 
In the face of overwhelming evidence presented by members of its own 
party, the administration keeps reporting the same old false story. 
They say anything, and they have.
  War Secretary Don Rumsfeld first told the American people, we do not 
have to abide by the Geneva Conventions. Then after Abu Ghraib he said, 
America supports the Geneva Conventions.
  Now the truth emerges. Rumsfeld personally ordered an Iraqi suspect 
held in solitary confinement at a secret location for 7 months. The 
inmate was hidden from the International Red Cross and any other human 
rights organization. Rumsfeld made someone disappear. Rumsfeld 
personally committed a violation of the Geneva Conventions that is so 
egregious, it could qualify as a war crime.
  Rumsfeld has not had time yet to blame some soldiers and throw them 
overboard like he continues to do with the soldiers in Abu Ghraib. And 
the blame game is in full swing over at the White House.
  Now even members of the President's own Republican Party are joining 
me on the enemies list. The bipartisan 9/11 Commission issued a key 
finding: there is no credible evidence linking Iraq and al Qaeda to 
attacks on America. It is not there. Saddam was a thug, but not a bin 
Laden pal. The 9/11 Commission finding proves without any doubt that 
the President misled the American people about the war in Iraq. Instead 
of accepting the finding, the President went into full frontal denial 
today.
  Presented with conclusive and compelling evidence, the President 
simply announced that he knows there was a link, so there is a link. A 
bipartisan commission of distinguished U.S. leaders whose only mission 
is to find out the truth on behalf of America is about to be neutered 
by the administration.
  Facts? Forget them. The President knows the truth. He must have seen 
it in a vision. Evidence? Who needs evidence when you have a President 
who is all knowing? Undeniable conclusion? Deny it.
  Then what do you do when you are this President and this 
administration? Next, and you can count on this, Republican storm 
troopers come into the House, will step to the microphone and denounce 
the commission. The Republican leaders in the House will denounce the 
members of the 9/11 Commission as partisan, even the Republicans on the 
commission.
  In the big lie theory of communication you never let the facts get in 
the way of the propaganda.

                              {time}  1700

  So less than 4 hours after the 9/11 Commission tells America that 
there was no link between Iraq and the attacks, the President says 
otherwise. The charade goes on.
  Over a year ago the President misled the American people and the 
world about Iraq, and he continues to do the same thing today. The 
President retreated from the war on terror and the hunt for Osama bin 
Laden to settle an old score against a family enemy in Iraq, but 
America has lost 800 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. America has seen thousands 
of U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq. We have spent $200 billion.
  The death, destruction and mayhem never had to happen. There are ways 
of dealing with Saddam, but the administration wanted blood from an old 
family nemesis.
  The President has made the world more dangerous. The administration 
has made America look and act like a lawless thug. The War Secretary 
has made the world shudder with the awful truth seen in prisoner abuse 
pictures that no amount of rhetoric can deny. The big lie can make 
people afraid. The big lie cannot stop the truth.
  America has seen and now America has heard. The President misled the 
American people about Iraq. The American people will respond in 
November. The 2nd of November is coming.

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