[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 90 (Thursday, June 30, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7803-S7804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAQ

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, President Bush's address to the Nation 
Tuesday night on the war in Iraq was more of the same we have been 
hearing for so long.
  We all agree that our men and women in uniform are serving with great 
skill, dedication, and courage under enormously difficult circumstances 
in Iraq. The policy of our Government must be worthy of their 
sacrifice, but unfortunately, it is not, and the American people know 
it.
  The President chose to wrap himself in the tragedy of September 11. 
He spoke explicitly of the tragedy five times, and he invoked the 
danger of Osama bin Laden twice. He spoke about terrorists 26 times, 
and he spoke of terror an additional 9 times, but the American people 
know that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with September 11.
  Even after 9/11, it is wrong for this President or any President to 
shoot first and ask questions later, to rush to war and ignore serious 
doubts by experienced military officers and experienced officials in 
the State Department and the CIA about the justification for the war 
and the strategy for waging it.
  We all know that Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We have known 
it for more than 20 years. We are proud, very proud, of our troops for 
their extraordinary and swift success in removing Saddam from power.
  But as we also now know beyond doubt, Saddam did not pose the kind of 
immediate threat to our national security that could possibly justify a 
unilateral, preventive war without the broad support of the 
international community. There was no reason whatever to go to war when 
we did, in the way we did, and for the false reasons we were given.
  The administration's insistence that Saddam could provide nuclear 
material, or even nuclear weapons, to al-qaida has been exposed as an 
empty threat. It should have never been used by President Bush to 
justify an ideological war that America never should have fought.
  Saddam had no nuclear weapons. In fact, not only were there no 
nuclear weapons, there were no chemical or biological weapons either, 
no weapons of mass destruction of any kind.
  Nor was there any persuasive link between al-qaida and Saddam and the 
9/11 attacks. A 9/11 Commission Staff Statement put it plainly:

       Two senior bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that 
     any ties existed between al-qaida and Iraq. We have no 
     credible evidence that Iraq and al-qaida cooperated on 
     attacks against the United States.

  The 9/11 Commission Report stated clearly that there was no 
``operational'' connection between Saddam and al-qaida.
  Nonetheless, President Bush continues to cling to the fiction that 
there was a relationship between Saddam and al-qaida.
  That is the same logic President Bush keeps using today in his 
repeated stubborn insistence that we are making progress in Iraq, and 
that we and the world are safer because Saddam is gone.
  In fact, the war with Iraq has made us less safe. It has created a 
breeding ground for terrorists that did not previously exist. It has 
created a powerful recruitment tool for al-qaida, and made it harder--
much harder--to win the real war on terrorism--the war against al-
qaida.
  Our soldiers in Iraq need more than assurances of progress from the 
President. They need more than a public relations campaign. They need 
an effective plan to end the violence, bring peace and stability to 
Iraq, and return home with dignity and honor.
  The President did not level with our troops and the American people 
and offer an effective strategy for success.
  The President spoke about the importance of training the Iraqi 
security forces, but failed to outline a clear strategy to accelerate 
their training and improve their capability.
  The training of the Iraqi security forces continues to falter. The 
administration still has not given the American people a straight 
answer about how many Iraqi security forces are adequately trained and 
equipped. In the words of the Government Accountability Office:

       U.S. government agencies do not report reliable data on the 
     extent to which Iraqi security forces are trained and 
     equipped.
  The President spoke about the importance of our reconstruction 
effort, but he failed to outline a clear strategy to create jobs and 
hope for the Iraqi people, and neutralize the temptation to join the 
insurgents. As of June 15, the administration only spent $6 billion--
one-third--of the $18 billion Congress provided last summer for 
reconstruction. Of the money we do spend, it is far from clear how much 
is actually creating jobs and improving the quality of life. We need 
greater focus on small projects to create jobs for Iraqis, not huge 
grants to multinational corporations that create profits for corporate 
executives instead of stability for the Iraqi people.
  The President spoke about the importance of the international 
community in Iraq, but he failed to suggest a clear strategy to bring 
in additional foreign troops to help us get the job done in Iraq.
  If NATO is willing to send additional troops to help secure Iraq's 
borders, the President should ask them to do so. He did not.
  If the United Nations is willing to send a force to help secure 
Iraq's borders, the President should ask the U.N. to do so. He did not.
  Nor did the President offer any strategy to prevent further 
reductions in the forces of the international coalition. A year ago, we 
had 34 coalition partners in Iraq. Nine of those partners have pulled 
out. Today, we have just 25. American forces still make up nearly 85 
percent of the troops fighting in Iraq. By the end of the year, five 
more countries among the largest contributors of troops are scheduled 
to pull out. The President said nothing about how he intends to prevent 
more troops in the coalition from pulling out.
  The President spoke about the hard work of our troops, he urged 
Americans to send them letters and raise flags in their honor, but he 
did not assure them that they will have the equipment they need to 
fight the war.
  More than 400 of our troops in Iraq have died in military vehicles 
hit by roadside bombs, grenades, and other so-called improvised 
explosive devices. Yet troops don't have the protective equipment they 
need. The Marines are still waiting for the 495 armored humvees they 
ordered last year.
  The American people rightly believe we are bogged down in Iraq and 
that the President has no realistic strategy for success. A quagmire by 
any other name is still a quagmire. The dictionary defines a quagmire 
as ``a complex or precarious position where disengagement is 
difficult.'' That is precisely what we have in Iraq--not because of the 
hard work and dedication of our military, but because of the persistent 
mistakes made by the President and his national security team.
  No one has been more responsible for those mistakes than Secretary of 
Defense Rumsfeld. He has been consistently wrong about Iraq.
  He was wrong about weapons of mass destruction.
  He was wrong about the number of troops we would need in Iraq.
  He was wrong to keep calling the insurgents deadenders.
  He was wrong to send our service men and women into battle month 
after month without proper armor.
  He was wrong to exaggerate our success in training Iraqi security 
forces.
  A single word spoke volumes at the Senate Armed Services Committee

[[Page S7804]]

hearing on Iraq on June 23. Secretary Rumsfeld's prepared testimony 
contained these words:

       In every war, there are individuals who commit wrongdoing. 
     And there are mistakes, setbacks, and hardships.

  He repeated those words to the committee with a notable exception. He 
left out the word ``mistake.''
  Accepting the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld is the most important 
first step the President can take toward a new and more successful 
policy in Iraq.
  Reality is difficult to swallow. Facts, as John Adams once said, are 
stubborn things. President Bush should face the facts and accept them.
  I say this with deep sorrow and regret for our service men and women, 
their families, and friends. They deserve better and they deserve it 
now.

                          ____________________