[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 20]
[House]
[Pages 27712-27713]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    CHENEY'S SCORCHED EARTH POLITICS

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time 
of the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, the White House is fast approaching a new 
low when it comes to smearing those of us who oppose the disastrous 
Iraq war. Before the Thanksgiving recess, Vice President Dick Cheney 
declared that

[[Page 27713]]

suggesting the administration deceived the Nation to justify the Iraq 
invasion, and I quote him, ``is one of the most dishonest and 
reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.''
  Well, first of all, being called ``dishonest'' by Dick Cheney is kind 
of like being told by Imelda Marcos that you have a shoe fetish. I 
thought it was ironic that the Vice President made these remarks at an 
event sponsored by a group called the Frontiers of Freedom. Asking hard 
questions and demanding answers from your government is one of the very 
foundations of freedom, but Dick Cheney seems to consider it borderline 
treason.
  Well, shame on him and shame on him for implying that criticism of 
this war amounts to criticism of the brave men and women in uniform who 
are on the front lines. The fact is there was exaggeration, 
manipulation, and down right deception in the run-up to the war. There 
is report after report of the Bush administration ignoring or 
downplaying serious misgivings in the intelligence community about the 
weapons of mass destruction case.
  It has been well confirmed that the Vice President himself visited 
CIA headquarters to lean on analysts and to make sure that they were 
reaching ``right'' conclusions.
  Then there are the Downing Street memos, which claim the intelligence 
was being fixed around the policy. The Vice President claims that it is 
a few opportunists who are raising questions about trumped-up 
intelligence.
  Well, guess what, Mr. Vice President, for more than half of the 
American people, there is a belief that the administration deliberately 
misled us into war. As the New Republic points out, that is not a few 
opportunists, more like a few million American citizens. Actually, more 
than 150 million who do not believe the President and his team told the 
truth.
  What you are seeing is a desperate White House losing its ability to 
shape public opinion and consequently twisting the truth beyond 
recognition. This push-back is a clear sign that the wheels are coming 
off. By roughly a 2 to 1 margin, Americans have lost confidence in the 
Bush Iraq policy. A majority thinks we need to reduce our troop levels. 
Before Thanksgiving, 79 Senators voted for an amendment that indicates 
an interest in moving forward towards full Iraqi sovereignty in the 
year 2006, and demands more accountability from the administration on 
the conduct of the war.
  And recently, my good friend and esteemed colleague from 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Jack Murtha, a Marine Corps veteran with strong 
defense credentials, came out for bringing our troops out of Iraq.

                              {time}  1815

  But instead of engaging in an honest dialogue with him, the first 
reaction from the other side of the aisle was to resort to 
fearmongering and character assassination. Representative Murtha was 
subjected to the most vile and devious accusations. He was compared to 
a prominent al Qaeda terrorist. He was said to be emboldening our 
enemies. It was implied that he was a coward. And then the majority 
resorted to a gimmick, a cheap stunt distorting Mr. Murtha's words in 
an attempt to gain political advantage. I wish that those on the other 
side of the aisle were half as honorable as they are clever. The 
American people deserve better. Our troops deserve better than this. 
They deserve a thorough, substantive, honest debate on the war, not a 
bill that could not be amended, not a bill brought to the House floor 
for no other reason than partisan gamesmanship.
  Mr. Speaker, a group of Democrats has written a discharge petition to 
bring the Iraq debate to the House floor, to bring it through 
legislation around a piece of legislation called Homeward Bound, H.J. 
Res. 55, to bring it to the House floor so that we can have the debate 
we need. This discharge petition will allow 17 hours of debate on the 
Nation's Iraq policy. And unlike the sham bill presented by the 
majority in response to Representative Murtha's call to the end of war, 
it would be brought up under an open rule, a rule that allows 
amendments to be introduced. I urge my colleagues to sign the discharge 
petition, allow for a real debate.

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