[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 114 (Tuesday, September 21, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9411-S9412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IRAQ
Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, yesterday Senator John Kerry told the
American people the truth about Iraq, the truth about the past, the
truth about the present, and the truth about the future. President
Bush, Vice President Cheney, and other administration apologists
complain he did not show enough optimism. Senator Kerry decided that
honesty was more important than false optimism.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney have not been honest about
Iraq from the beginning. They have not been honest about Iraq with this
Senate, not with the House, nor with the American people. John Kerry
gave us yesterday what we need: honesty about Iraq.
He was not alone in the last few days. I salute my Republican
colleagues--five of them--for their honesty about the situation in
Iraq. It cannot be easy to tell the American people the truth and to
stand up to an administration of their own party which is not telling
the truth. They are remarkable American patriots who recognize, as
Senator Robert C. Byrd, the great senior Senator from West Virginia,
has reminded us, that we serve with Presidents of the United States,
not under them.
We are elected separately to serve independently and to exercise our
own best judgments about what is best for our respective States and for
our United States.
Listen to what five of our Republican Senators have said recently.
One said that President Bush's rosy pronouncements about the situation
in Iraq ``are not as straight as we would want them to be.''
Another stated:
A crisp, sharp analysis of our policies is required.
A third, upon noting that of the $18.5 billion Congress appropriated
for Iraq's reconstruction a year ago, only $1 billion has been
expended, called this ``the incompetence in the administration.''
A fourth Republican Senator stated the other day that he may not vote
for President Bush in November, to which another Republican Senator
replied:
What I like about him is that he can be a Republican
Senator and, at the same time, he is unsure about our
Republican President. He is a breath of fresh air in
politics.
As he is. And we need also a breath of fresh air in the White House,
along with fresh words of truth which we received yesterday from
Senator Kerry.
The response of the Bush White House to these honest assessments by
Senator Kerry and by our Republican Senate colleagues has been to
attack them and blame everyone else. President Truman said when he was
President, ``The buck stops here.'' With this President, it is ``the
blame starts here''--blame those who opposed this war from the
beginning, as I did; blame those who question his bungling of the
running of Iraq after our courageous Armed Forces won the country in 3
weeks and still die daily because Iraqis will not take responsibility
for their own country. And now he blames his political opponent for
telling the American people the truth about Iraq, the truth that he has
consistently withheld.
I am not clear exactly about what we are supposed to be optimistic.
Certainly not the report of the President's own National Intelligence
Council which, according to an Associated Press story last week,
``presented President Bush this summer with three pessimistic scenarios
regarding the security situation in Iraq, including the possibility of
a civil war there before the end of 2005.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this article be printed
in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, how are we to view the continuing violence
in Iraq, the murders of American soldiers as they stand guard in a
country that its own citizens are unwilling or unable to guard for
themselves, or the American citizens hired to work there who are being
kidnapped and beheaded? Tell the 138,000 American soldiers who are
courageously serving their country, risking and some losing their
lives, and wondering when are they coming home. I say to those who tell
patriotic dissenters that they are not supporting our troops--the
printable part is, if you want to support our troops, bring them home
alive soon, not in 10 or 20 years, as Senator McCain has recently
predicted.
Make Iraqis protect and defend their own country. That is what people
do in a democracy. That is what people do in any form of stable
national government: They impose law and order in their own cities.
They provide public safety on their own highways. They defend their own
national borders.
Over a year ago, in August of 2003, the Bush administration claimed
that 95 percent of Iraq was peacefully occupied and operating normally.
Now we see daily reports that violence is spreading and becoming more
murderous. The Iraqi Prime Minister claims that ``foreign terrorists
are still pouring in,'' a common cry to rally Americans behind the
fallacy that their sons and daughters must die in Najev and Baghdad so
we will not die in New York and Boston. He says more troops are needed
to win. Following the party line, he says: We need more participation
from other countries.
We needed more participation from other countries 2 years ago when
Congress was stampeded as part of the 2002 midterm election strategy to
vote a blank check for warmaking based on completely false information
from the Bush administration, including the President and the Vice
President themselves.
We needed more participation from other countries when the United
States and Great Britain bilaterally invaded Iraq in 2003. Or when the
operation of that country failed to begin 3 weeks later. We need it
now. Now that President Bush has made a mess of the situation in Iraq,
are there any international volunteers?
How about participation from the people of Iraq against the
supposedly ``5,000 to 10,000'' insurgents, 95 percent of whom we are
told are Iraqis who do not like the presence of the United States
there. On paper, we were told over almost a year ago by the Secretary
of Defense that there were 206,000 Iraqi militia and army military
personnel who were being trained or had been trained--206,000 we were
told. Last week, the Secretary of Defense admits that only half of that
number have actually been trained.
We are told that less than $1 billion of the $5 billion that Congress
appropriated 1 year ago for security training has been expended. And
that is why the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee said over the weekend that this is the incompetence of this
administration. The buck stops there.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may have 2 minutes to
complete my remarks.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Democratic time remains--3 minutes
43 seconds.
Mr. DAYTON. I ask that I may have 2 minutes of that time to complete
my remarks.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, the buck stops in the White House. The
blame starts there and it ends there. Senator John Kerry is not
responsible
[[Page S9412]]
for this war. Congress is culpable to some extent, but is not
responsible for it. President Bush is responsible. Now that things are
going badly and getting worse--and I say that not because it is
pessimism, I say that because it is the truth. John Kerry told the
American people the truth. President Bush should start doing the same.
I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.
Exhibit 1
[From AOL News]
Intelligence Report Offered Bleak View of Iraq
(By Katherine Pfleger Shrader)
Washington (Sept. 16).--The National Intelligence Council
presented President Bush this summer with three pessimistic
scenarios regarding the security situation in Iraq, including
the possibility of a civil war there before the end of 2005.
In a highly classified National Intelligence Estimate, the
council looked at the political, economic and security
situation in the wartorn country and determined that--at
best--a tenuous stability was possible, a U.S. official said
late Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The
document lays out a second scenario in which increased
extremism and fragmentation in Iraqi society impede efforts
to build a central government and adversely affect efforts to
democratize the country.
In a third, worst-case scenario, the intelligence council
contemplated ``trend lines that would point to a civil war,''
the official said. The potential conflict could be among the
country's three main populations--the Sunnis, Shiites and
Kurds.
It ``would be fair'' to call the document ``pessimistic,''
the official added. But ``the contents shouldn't come as a
particular surprise to anyone who is following developments
in Iraq. It encapsulates trends that are clearly apparent.''
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is 2\1/2\ minutes still under
the control of the Democrats.
Mr. DAYTON. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. DAYTON. I yield back the remainder of our time.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The Senator from Pennsylvania.
____________________