[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15032-15033]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                KNOWLEDGE IS POWER IN AMERICAN POLITICS

  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, knowledge is power. That is the hope for 
America right now. That is the hope, that the American people will see 
what is happening in the people's House at the direction of the White 
House.
  Democracy was subverted in a brazen manner here, and it is because of 
the administration that has a policy that States' ignorance is a 
virtue.
  The President of the United States proudly says, ``I don't read 
newspapers. I don't read books, except for children's books when there 
is a photo-op possibility. I only take information that is pre-chewed 
by my staff and brought in to me and given to me.'' We will talk more 
about that later.
  But the fact is the reason they want the PATRIOT Act is because as a 
part of this ``ignorance is a virtue'' policy, we have got to keep the 
American people ignorant. How can you do that? Keep them out of the 
libraries. We do not want them going into the libraries and reading 
books and finding out things that the President does not even know. 
What will happen if the people know more than the President?
  So, the PATRIOT Act says, give the CIA and the FBI the ability to 
come into the library and see what you, the American people, are 
reading. What is going on here?
  Now, this body came out here and took that power away. But it was 
suppressed. Democracy was suppressed in this body. After we restored 
the basic freedoms and civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution 
and the Bill of Rights, we took away the people's right to read 
whatever they want without having the government snooping over their 
shoulder.
  Democracy was censored after the American people's representatives 
had spoken loudly and clearly through their elected representatives, 
Democrats and Republicans. This was not just Democrats. The people told 
us to restore some of the basic freedoms and the civil liberties 
subverted by the PATRIOT Act. We did it out here on this floor.
  But King George III did not want that. He wanted a different outcome. 
Democracy was subverted in a brazen display of raw political arrogance 
ordered by the administration and executed by the Republicans. America 
has never been so divided.
  The Republican America is a place where the polls stay open until the 
Republicans win. Now, you have all voted in an election. You go to the 
polls and they close at 8 o'clock. You cannot come at 8:10 and say, 
``Hey, I want to vote.'' They are closed. It is over. You only can vote 
until then.
  The Republican America is a place where the voice of the people is 
drowned out by the iron will of this administration. They did it right 
here on the floor. The Republican America is a place where fear is 
useful and greed is very, very good.
  The Republican America is a place where democracy is endangered by an 
administration unwilling to accept the will of the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, knowledge is power. The administration preordained the 
war in Iraq. They decided they were going to war. They manufactured 
reasons and they remanufactured responses as knowledge of the 
President's war choices began to reach the American people and turned 
out to be false.
  The Senate Intelligence Committee has just put out a report which is 
just the tip of the iceberg. They say the CIA gave bad information to 
the President. Remember, the President does not read anything himself. 
He does not read the newspapers, he does not read books. He lets people 
he trusts come in and tell him what has happened.
  So, the CIA is at fault for why we are in Iraq. There is no other 
answer. Our President could not be at fault, because he took the word 
of people he trusted.
  Now, the CIA is not without fault, but they are not solely to blame. 
What about the trips that Vice President Cheney made out to Langley to 
the CIA headquarters, and twisted arms and said, ``Can't you find some 
reason here why we can go into Iraq?'' He did it five times, so that 
when the information came from the CIA to the President, who did not 
know anything else, he took what Mr. Cheney squeezed out of the CIA. 
The process behind the intelligence was tainted. What did the 
administration know? What did they ignore, mischaracterize or discount, 
because it did not fit their agenda?
  The checks and balances of this government were broken down by an 
administration that had a blank check from the Congress: ``Go out and 
do anything you want on the war on terror.'' So they had the blank 
check in their pocket.
  Then they had to have a clear intent for why they should invade Iraq, 
so they had to go to the CIA: ``Give us a reason. Come on, give us a 
reason. There has got to be a reason. Come on.''
  The CIA is not without fault, but they are far from alone in leading 
us to war in Iraq. The administration will happily make them a 
scapegoat. Put it all on them and send them out in the wilderness. 
Blame George Tenet, blame all the analysts, public servants, all the 
public officials. Nothing at the White House. ``We are blameless,'' 
they say.
  I ask every American to compare what the administration will do in 
the next few days. On this weekend they are going to spin that idea all 
weekend. ``We are blameless. We are blameless. The CIA is to blame.''
  Just compare that with what John Kennedy did after the Bay of Pigs. 
President Kennedy accepted responsibility. He had the CIA telling him 
things. He listened to them and he allowed it to happen, and he said 
``The buck stops at my desk. I made the decision. I was wrong.''
  Now, does anybody in this country believe that the President will 
admit that any mistakes have occurred in Iraq because of his decision 
making? Will this administration tell the American people that they 
should be held accountable for a needless war in Iraq?
  Can you imagine the President coming on television and saying, 
``Well, we

[[Page 15033]]

made some mistakes and I shouldn't have taken us into Iraq. The 1,000 
people who have died were for naught.''
  John Kennedy accepted the blame. Will this President do that? The 
buck stops at the White House with this bunch for only 116 more days.

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