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




        LINK BETWEEN SADDAM HUSSEIN AND ATTACK ON UNITED STATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, tonight there is going to be a debate in 
Cleveland, Ohio, my home State. I believe probably millions and 
millions of Americans will be watching. One of the things I hope they 
listen for is a question that I feel certain the Vice President will 
receive.
  The Vice President, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, 
continues to say that there was a link between Iraq and Saddam Hussein 
and the attack upon our country.

                              {time}  2100

  That is a very fundamental thing for the American people to consider, 
because I believe most Americans, if they believe that Saddam Hussein 
was responsible for attacking our country on September 11, 2001, they 
would feel that what we have done by going into Iraq was totally 
justified.
  But all of the evidence from really authoritative sources, and I am 
talking about the 9/11 Commission and most recently I am talking about 
the FBI, has indicated that there was no connection between Saddam 
Hussein, Iraq and the attack upon America. Just yesterday, the FBI 
indicated that as far as they can tell, there was no collaboration 
between Saddam Hussein and the al Qaeda terrorism network.
  And so we find ourselves tonight bogged down in a war that has 
consumed over 1,000 American lives, has resulted in the injury of 
nearly 7,000 American soldiers, and we are finding ourselves unable to 
establish any connection between Iraq and the attack upon our country. 
And so while we are losing soldiers, while we are spending billions of 
dollars, while we are seeing the terrible injuries to our soldiers in 
Iraq, Osama bin Laden, the individual who was in fact responsible for 
attacking our country, the al Qaeda terrorism network, is now spreading 
throughout the world.
  What we have done in Iraq is not unlike what some of my friends used 
to do as young kids, going into the woods and finding a hornets' nest 
and throwing rocks or walnuts at it and stirring up the hornets and 
then having to suffer with the consequences of that. There is a way you 
can capture the hornets' nest as a trophy to hang in your barn or in 
your garage, but you need to use your head, you need to be prepared, 
you need to take equipment, you need to have a screen to put over 
yourself, you need to go to that hornets' nest when there is not a lot 
of hornet activity around it. You need to plug the hole where the 
hornets go in and out of that nest before you attempt to take it from 
the tree.
  But, no, that is not the way we attacked or planned the attack on 
Iraq. It was like a kid taking a stick and starting to beat a hornets' 
nest. The hornets are now out there.
  Iraq has become a hotbed for terrorism. The President says Iraq is 
the central part of our war on terrorism. It may be now, but it was not 
before this war started. There is no evidence that the terror network 
was operating in Iraq. But now we have created a situation where 
terrorists from all over the world are gathering in that country, and 
they are fighting and they are killing our people.
  Our resources are being consumed. And the President has no plan to 
free us from this morass and the Vice President continues to say to the 
American people that there was a connection, in spite of the 9/11 
Commission report, in spite of what the FBI says.
  I believe the American people want us to fight the terrorists. I want 
us to fight the terrorists. That is why nearly all of us, save one, 
voted to support the war in Afghanistan. And as Senator Kerry reminded 
the President in the debate a few nights ago, it was Osama bin Laden 
who attacked us. It was the al Qaeda terror network that attacked us. 
It was not Saddam Hussein and Iraq. The American people need to be 
aware of that as they decide who they want to be the person that makes 
the decisions regarding our foreign policy in the years ahead of us.

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