[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 16967-16968]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, ``Did the Bush administration 
manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons program to 
justify an invasion of Iraq?'' This is the central question posed by 
discredited Ambassador Joe Wilson in his July 6, 2003, op-ed published 
by the New York Times.
  Wilson alleged the answer to the question was ``yes'', and a 
political firestorm ensued. Indeed, the year-long furor over the 
infamous 16 words stemmed from Mr. Wilson's disproved claims.
  Many of the President's fiercest critics have since argued the Bush 
administration misled the country into war, a truly incendiary charge.
  Lord Butler's comprehensive report includes the real 16-word 
statement we should focus on. Here is what he had to say:

       We conclude that the statement in President Bush's State of 
     the Union address . . . is well founded.

  It is well founded. Yet the New York Times threw its hat into the 
ring early and ran an editorial on July 12, 2003 amplifying Wilson's 
irresponsible claim and flaming the fires of this pseudo-scandal. This 
is what they had to say:

       Now the American people need to know how the accusation got 
     into the speech in the first place, and whether it was put 
     there with an intent to deceive the nation. The White House 
     has a lot of explaining to do.

  Will the New York Times, which printed 70 stories that repeated Joe 
Wilson's claims, now retract this editorial? Will it acknowledge on the 
editorial page the truth about Joe Wilson?
  Rather than displaying caution and restraint, too many American 
politicians raced, like the New York Times, to echo this outrageous 
allegation.
  Early into the fray was the senior Senator from North Carolina. On 
July 22, 2003, Fox News played a clip from one of Senator Edwards' 
rallies in which he repeats Wilson's attacks on the President's 
honesty. Senator Edwards claims:

       Nothing is more important than the credibility of the 
     president of the United States and the words that come out of 
     his mouth at the State of the Union are, in fact, the 
     responsibility of the president.

  According to the correspondent at the rally:

       Edwards blasted the president's 16-word State of the Union 
     sentence on British intelligence information that Iraq sought 
     nuclear weapons material from Africa.

  Now a candidate for the Vice Presidency, Senator Edwards will have 
many media opportunities to set the record straight about his view of 
the President's State of the Union speech. In the name of fairness, I 
sure hope he will.
  Not to be outdone, the Senior Senator from Massachusetts, Senator 
Kennedy, delivered an attack on the Bush administration this January. 
Senator Kennedy repeated Wilson's distortions, and claimed:

       The gross abuse of intelligence was on full display in the 
     president's State of the Union address last January, when he 
     spoke the now infamous 16 words. . . . And as we all know 
     now, that allegation was false. . . . President Bush and his 
     advisers should have presented their case honestly.

  When will Senator Kennedy acknowledge that the President's claim was 
``well founded?'' The junior Senator from Massachusetts has also 
accused the President of misleading the country. An Associated Press 
report from 2003 includes an exchange between Senator Kerry and a woman 
on the campaign trail. Here is how it went.

       When a woman asked whether U.S. intelligence on Iraq was 
     doctored, Kerry replies that Americans were ``clearly 
     misled'' on two specific pieces of intelligence. ``I will not 
     let him off the hook throughout this campaign with respect to 
     America's credibility . . .

  That is the junior Senator from Massachusetts. Let me quote another 
AP report about Senator Kerry from last summer:

       Kerry said Bush made his case for war based on U.S. 
     intelligence that now appear to be wrong--that Iraq sought 
     nuclear material from Africa.

  Now that Joe Wilson's claims have been completely discredited, the 
junior Senator from Massachusetts has a chance to set the record 
straight. But will he?
  I mentioned yesterday the distinguished Minority Leader had repeated 
Joe Wilson's discredited claims on the Senate Floor. Just last month, 
Senator Daschle said:

       Sunlight, it's been said, is the best disinfectant. But for 
     too long, the administration has been able to keep Congress 
     and the American people in the dark . . . serious matters, 
     such as the manipulation of intelligence about Iraq, have 
     received only fitful attention.

  The bipartisan Senate Intelligence Report reached the following 
conclusions that directly refute the serious charges made by the 
President's critics:

       Conclusion 83. The Committee did not find any evidence that 
     Administration officials attempted to coerce, influence, or 
     pressure analysts to change their judgments related

[[Page 16968]]

     to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities.
       Conclusion 84. The Committee found no evidence that the 
     Vice President's visits to the CIA were attempts to pressure 
     analysts, were perceived as intended to pressure analysts by 
     those who participated in the briefings on Iraq's WMD 
     programs, or did pressure analysts to change their 
     assessments.

  Let us not allow honesty to become a casualty of the campaign season.
  My colleagues now have an opportunity--and I am sure they will take 
it--to set the record straight about their support of Mr. Wilson's 
outrageous claims. In the name of fairness, will they?

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