[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 25813]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




RESOLUTION OF INQUIRY, H. RES. 505 REQUESTING THE PRESIDENT TRANSMIT TO 
 THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DOCUMENTS PERTAINING TO THE WHITE HOUSE 
                               IRAQ GROUP

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SHERROD BROWN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 10, 2005

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, earlier today the House International 
Relations Committee convened to consider an important resolution of 
inquiry, H. Res. 505.
  The resolution would have required the President and Secretary of 
State to turn over to the House of Representatives all white papers, 
minutes, notes, e-mails or other communications relating to the White 
House Iraq Group (WHIG).
  Unfortunately, the committee voted to report the resolution 
unfavorably, so we won't be getting those important documents.
  It was also unfortunate that the committee called for a vote before 
all Democrats wishing to speak could be heard. Because the chairman 
acted in this manner, further debate was closed.
  Due to this, I feel it necessary to have my statement from the 
International Relations Committee included in the Congressional Record.
  I hope that in the future, when our committee meets on important 
legislation with serious international and national security 
implications, all members will be allowed to address their concerns 
vocally and publicly.
  My statement for the committee record appears below.

       Here we are again, asking for the answers to the same 
     questions we've been asking for over two and a half years.
       I commend my colleagues for introducing H. Res. 505, a 
     resolution that would require the President and Secretary of 
     State to turn over to the House of Representatives all white 
     papers, minutes, notes, e-mails or other communications 
     relating to the White House Iraq Group (WHIG).
       It seems many of my colleagues on the other side of the 
     aisle have forgotten that Congress has an obligation to the 
     American people to oversee the activities of the Executive 
     Branch.
       Because of that duty, we owe it to the American public to 
     investigate the actions of the WHIG if we are to determine 
     what the Bush Administration was peddling less than the 
     actual truth of the Iraqi threat prior to going to war.
       Over the past several years, Congress has continually 
     failed to investigate the Administration's faulty 
     intelligence claims with regard to Iraq.
       Now we know that Andrew Card formed the WHIG in 2002, with 
     the goal of marketing an invasion of Iraq. The group included 
     numerous senior administration officials, including Lewis 
     ``Scooter'' Libby, Karl Rove and Condoleezza Rice.
       It appears much of the administrations support for the Iraq 
     invasion came from the WHIG, and it helped create materials 
     for use by administration officials.
       The materials were then used to make claims which it 
     appears the members of the WHIG knew or had reason to know 
     were questionable or false.
       In the buildup to the war, these materials included but 
     were not limited to possible erroneous claims that Iraq 
     sought uranium from Niger; that Iraq's aluminum tubes could 
     be used only for nuclear weapons purposes; and that Iraq was 
     a training ground for Al Qaeda operatives.
       Following these and similar claims, an aggressive media 
     assault continued. In mid-September 2002, Condoleeza Rice 
     stated that action on Iraq was necessary because, ``We don't 
     want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.''
       Vice President Cheney also appeared that month on ``Meet 
     the Press'' stating that Saddam Hussein was ``actively and 
     aggressively'' working towards a nuclear bomb.
       President Bush himself claimed during a 2002 major speech 
     in Cincinnati: ``We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda 
     members in bomb- making and deadly gases.''
       The American people deserve answers regarding the truth 
     about information peddled by WHIG.
       I urge my colleagues to do no more than their Congressional 
     service demands--we must investigate possible wrongdoing by 
     the Executive Branch.
       If you do not fear the truth, you will vote to report this 
     resolution favorably.

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