[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18559]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     IRAQ'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, after the terrorist attacks of September 
11, it became apparent that the United States needed to be more 
vigilant about terrorism and weapons proliferation and pay attention to 
prospects of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of 
groups that could use them against American interests.
  The Bush Administration, the Clinton Administration, and the United 
Nations all agreed that Saddam Hussein possessed a significant 
biological and chemical capability in 1998 when the inspectors were 
withdrawn. There is broad agreement that Hussein, different from any 
other leader, had proven himself capable of using these weapons for 
offensive purposes and not merely a defensive posture.
  There are efforts in the Congress to employ a full investigation into 
difficult issues to understand whether mistakes were made and to take 
action to fix them in fulfillment of Congress' important oversight 
responsibilities. To date, the chairman of the Committee on Armed 
Services, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence reject a broader probe of 
the WMD issue.
  I believe Congress is exercising its oversight authority and has set 
in place procedures to review comprehensively and on a bipartisan basis 
the intelligence surrounding Iraq prior to the outbreak of war and to 
take into account any dissident views on the Iraqi threat.

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