[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 20891-20892]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             PANDORA'S BOX

  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, the Republican ploy is not going to work. 
Finally, it is out in the open. H.R. 163, which the administration 
denied for 18 months, that is the national service bill, is not going 
to go away because the Republicans will it. They opened Pandora's box 
with this needless door, and they cannot close it, no matter how hard 
they try.
  Finally, the American people are going to get the truth. H.R. 163 is 
out in the open. The administration denied the existence of the 
possibility of a draft since the day we proposed it. They refused to 
face the issue of who would fight and die in the President's war. They 
ordered the Republican majority to bury 163 alive; refer it to the 
Department of Defense where it would be placed in solitary confinement 
forever; lose it in the system, just like they lose human beings in the 
system in Iraq. But they did not count on the kids, our sons and 
daughters or nieces and nephews our godchildren and grandchildren. The 
Republicans did not count on the kids. It started on the Internet 
blogs. Go look for yourself. We raise smart kids, America. They were 
the first to see through the administration's rhetoric.
  The administration claims we have enough soldiers in Iraq, but they 
stop-loss soldiers who have survived a year on duty in Iraq, and this 
administration orders them to stay and fight some more. They claim we 
have enough soldiers in Iraq, but we call up the ready reserves and 
order them out to Iraq. They claim they have enough soldiers in Iraq, 
but they got rid of the general, they retired him, who said it would 
take 300,000 troops in Iraq.
  They get the names and addresses of our high school kids through the 
PATRIOT Act and send the recruiters on a mission. Yes, America, the 
PATRIOT Act helps them locate your children. One parent in Seattle 
called it ``outrageous'' and ``disgraceful.'' How right he was. The 
PATRIOT Act. You know, the bill the administration claims it needs to 
catch the terrorists; but it nets the government the names, addresses, 
and telephone numbers of your sons and daughters, every single one of 
them. They not only know where you live, they are coming to have a talk 
with your kid.
  They say they do not need a draft. They sure do not act that way. And 
that is before the election, the only thing they fear. Even their own 
guy, the former Iraqi administrator, told an audience yesterday the 
U.S. went into Iraq without enough troops. The looting, the violence, 
there was no way to stop it. Paul Bremer said this in a direct quote: 
``We never had enough troops on the ground.'' Later, aides said his 
comments were meant to be off the record. Apparently, that is where the 
administration keeps the truth these days, off the record.
  Likewise, Rumsfeld told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York 
yesterday that he knows of ``no strong, hard evidence linking Saddam to 
al Qaeda.'' When that one got into the news media, the Secretary said 
he was misunderstood. I just bet he was.
  I know one person who was not misunderstood, the Vice President, who 
spoke on the record in a disclosed location, Seattle, Washington. This 
is worth repeating, given the Vice Presidential debates tonight. The 
Seattle Post Intelligencer and its columnist Joel Connelly found a 
transcript of a 1992 Seattle appearance by then Defense Secretary Dick 
Cheney. He was explaining why the U.S. had left Saddam in Iraq after 
the first Gulf War, and this is a direct quote: ``And the question in 
my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And 
the answer is not that damned many. So I think we got it right, both 
when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the President 
made the decision we had achieved our objectives and we were

[[Page 20892]]

not going to get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and 
govern Iraq.'' Not going to get bogged down.
  Does anyone think the Vice President will talk straight about this 
later tonight? Not a chance. And they wonder why the kids get it. Every 
time this administration says there will be no draft, the kids get 
online and the phones to my office and the office of the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Rangel) ring off the hook. The kids know the difference 
between the truth and Republican rhetoric.
  H.R. 163 is out of solitary confinement, and it is in the open. What 
18-year-old can believe an administration who said there were weapons 
of mass destruction, knowing their own people doubted it? What 18-year-
old can believe they do not intend to get them to Iraq, whether they 
call it a draft or a precondition for a college loan? What 18-year-old 
can believe they will tell it straight when they pronounce ``mission 
accomplished'' over 900 casualties ago?
  The kids know, Mr. Speaker. They know just like other generations. 
The kids are forcing their parents to look at reality and see the 
truth. The kids may have funny colored hair or a ring in their ear or 
nose, but they have a good head on their shoulders. Punk rock music may 
not be the in thing to listen to, but these kids are making voting the 
in thing to do, and the Republicans are terrified.

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