[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18169-18170]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE DISTORTION OF EVIDENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, beginning tonight and for the rest of 
the evenings until we recess for our summer break, a number of us will 
be coming to the floor to read letters that have been written by 
ordinary Americans, letters that were sent to our districts and others 
in our States, letters and comments that were in response to an online 
petition by moveon.org which is a grassroots organization with more 
than 1.4 million members.
  Here is the petition which moveon.org has online: ``Congress should 
support an independent commission to investigate the Bush 
administration's distortion of evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass 
destruction program.''
  Over 320,000 people signed this online petition, and many of them 
wrote comments. In Illinois, 3,621 people wrote comments, and I have 
copies of those. I am going to read some of them.
  All of the people who wrote comments are supporting H.R. 2625 which 
was introduced by the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman) to 
establish an independent commission to investigate intelligence claims 
that were made to the public by the administration to justify a 
preemptive war against Iraq.
  All of the ones I am going to read tonight were written by either 
people in the service or service related or veterans of U.S. wars. This 
is the first I will read.
  ``My wife is with Freeport's 333rd MP Company. She has been overseas 
since late April. She has been on active duty since February 9. She has 
not slept in her own bed next to her own husband in 4 months and 6 
days. We still have no idea when this nightmare can be over for us. We 
understand a call to duty for our Nation. We truly do. However, she did 
not join the National Guard with an open-ended deployment and a war 
zone in mind. None of them did. We always thought the Guard was for 
short

[[Page 18170]]

deployments and emergencies only. She tells me that morale with her 
soldiers is extremely low. There are short tempers, long days, fear, 
crying soldiers, and no idea when it can be over for them. That is the 
root of our anguish. These people have been uprooted from their lives 
and jobs, and they answered that call, yet no one can answer their 
most-asked question: When can I go home?
  ``The average soldier is not a stupid order taker. We have a highly 
intelligent military, and they realize what is going on back home with 
the controversy around the evidence of weapons of mass destruction. I 
cannot speak for other soldiers, but it disturbs my wife deeply to 
think that she could be over there risking her life and living a daily 
heartbreak based on distorted testimony.

                              {time}  2015

  It makes her feel like a pawn of political agenda, not an American 
doing good in the world. All of this together most certainly influences 
her ideas of retention. We need the truth, not someone's version of the 
truth, not some of the truth but all of the truth. And we need to know 
when we can be reunited to live our lives together.''
  That is Ron Macek, Rockford, Illinois.
  This is another letter:
  ``I am a veteran and a former intelligence analyst who spent 3 years 
in the Middle East peering over Saddam's shoulder. It is always 
disturbing when political leaders distort intelligence information to 
justify pet policies. It discredits intelligence agencies and the 
analysts who dedicate their time and lives to protecting America.
  ``Good intelligence analysts are sure to express multiple 
possibilities for unexplained events. They are also careful to 
delineate between what they know and what they think. It is a mistake 
to turn an assessment into policy. It is a shame that some analysts 
will tell the administration what they want to hear just to appease 
leaders. An investigation into this matter will prevent this from 
happening again.'' John Laesch, Bloomington, Illinois.
  ``I am a veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. I have seen 
firsthand the price we pay when we commit blood and treasure into a 
foreign land. It is a terrible price that is never replaced. If there 
is the slightest suspicion that the war in Iraq was promoted under 
false pretenses, then we should know about it. Such an occurrence would 
be a terrible misuse of government resources and the American people's 
trust. I request that you support an independent commission to 
investigate the handling of this matter.'' Robert P. Harrison, 
Arlington Heights, Illinois.
  ``As a former Naval officer married to a retired Navy man and with a 
daughter currently serving in Qatar, I'm probably one of the last 
people you would normally see signing a petition of this nature. 
Nonetheless, here I am. I question this administration's motivations 
and feel that our Commander in Chief has a lack of respect and regard 
for those he has placed in harm's way in order to further a set of 
goals of his own. His taunt of `bring it on' is unsettling on its own, 
but coupled with the increasing evidence that our involvement was ill-
advised and based on purposely unsubstantiated or twisted evidence only 
serves to increase my belief that the administration has an agenda 
wholly divorced from our national best interests.'' Pamela Faulkner 
from Illinois. More tomorrow.

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