[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17693-17695]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, AND IRAQ

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I came to the Capitol yesterday on the 
fifth anniversary of September 11. I looked out the window, down the 
Mall on the west side, and I couldn't help but remember what we saw on 
9/11. On that morning as we met in a small room on the west side of the 
Capitol and watched the television broadcast and first heard of a plane 
crashing into the World Trade Center, I thought: What a freak accident. 
I hope a lot of people won't die.
  Then as we watched incredulously, a second plane hit the World Trade 
Center. The scales fell from our eyes and we knew exactly what was 
happening. This was no accident. This was intentional. America was 
under attack.
  We met in this meeting a few minutes longer. Someone walked into the 
room and said they were evacuating the White House. We looked down the 
Mall on 9/11 and saw black, billowing smoke, and then the word came 
across that there was some explosion at the Pentagon. We weren't sure 
what had happened. A bomb? It turned out it was a plane.
  As that black smoke billowed across the Mall, as we looked on that 
bright sunlit day at this horrible, disgusting display of destruction, 
we were told to evacuate this building, to leave the U.S. Capitol for 
our lives as quickly as we could.
  We raced down the steps, all of us, thousands of us, and gathered 
outside. We stood on the grass not sure where to turn or where to go. 
We heard a loud boom. Many of us thought it was another explosion. It 
turned out it was the scrambling of our fighter planes over the 
Nation's Capital to protect us.
  Finally, after dismissing our staff, telling them to go home and find 
a safe place, I walked a few blocks away from the Capitol Building and 
sat, as most Americans did, for the rest of the day hearing the news 
reports, watching the television scenes from New York.
  Then late that evening, after that wrenching day, Members of Congress 
gathered on the steps outside the Capitol in a rare, heartening display 
of bipartisanship or nonpartisanship, said a prayer, and sang ``God 
Bless America.''
  In the weeks that followed, there was a mood on Capitol Hill unlike 
anything we had seen for a long time. The President came to us within 
hours and said: We are now declaring war on those responsible for 9/11. 
He proposed that we mobilize the strength of America, all of us, and 
strike back at those who had killed 3,000 innocent people on that day. 
The President's plea was answered with unequivocal support on both 
sides of the aisle.
  I have often said that in the years I have served here, there is no 
more difficult vote than a vote to go to war. We know that with that 
vote, people will die. The enemy, brave Americans, and innocent people 
will die, and you must take that seriously. But I didn't hesitate to 
vote for that war against al-Qaida. I didn't hesitate to vote for that 
war in Afghanistan. America had to stand and defend itself against 
those who would kill innocent people, as they did on 9/11.
  Yesterday, on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, there was an effort to 
rekindle that feeling.
  The President made important visits to New York, to the site of the 
World Trade Center, to Pennsylvania where United flight 93 crashed into 
the ground when the brave passengers took control of the plane away 
from the terrorists and, in the process, may have saved my life. Many 
believe that plane was destined for Washington, destined for this 
building, this important symbol of America. Those brave passengers took 
control of that plane and gave their lives in the process. The 
President visited that rural setting to remember their heroism.
  Then he came to the Pentagon, and I was honored to join him as he 
laid a wreath at the corner of the new section of the Pentagon that was 
rebuilt after 184 people in that building died on 9/11.
  We gathered again on the steps yesterday, a bipartisan gathering of 
the House and Senate, for a moment of prayer, a moment of reflection, 
and to sing ``God Bless America.'' It was a time when we tried to 
recapture that spirit of unity, that spirit of determination, and many 
of us felt we were moving our Nation again in the right direction.
  But what is it that divides us? We heard the speech of my leader and 
friend, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, and the speech of the Senator 
from Pennsylvania, again at odds in debating about our policy. What 
divides us is clearly another war--not the war in Afghanistan but the 
war in Iraq. Twenty-three of us on the floor of this Senate, when given 
a chance, voted against the authorization of force to go to war in 
Iraq.
  As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I knew from closed 
door sessions, which I was sworn not to disclose, I knew from those 
sessions that many of the things that were being told to the American 
people as reasons to go to war against Saddam Hussein and Iraq were 
just plain wrong.
  This last week, the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a bipartisan 
report, made it public for the record, for history, for all to see, 
that the American people were misled into this war in Iraq--statements 
about weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist, statements about 
nuclear weapons that didn't exist, statements about connections between 
Saddam Hussein and al-

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Qaida which were fabricated. Those reasons were told to the American 
people to justify a war which is now in its fourth year.
  Unlike the war in Afghanistan where our mission was clear to go after 
those who were responsible for 9/11, to go after al-Qaida, in Iraq we 
are in our fourth year. The official report from the Pentagon this 
morning is 2,671 of our best and bravest soldiers have died in that 
war; more than 19,000 have returned wounded, serious wounds--
amputations, blindness, burns, traumatic brain injury. We have spent 
more than $320 billion on that war. And last night, as the President 
spoke to America, he went beyond that spirit of unity that brought us 
together for the war in Afghanistan and against al-Qaida to discuss 
this war in Iraq.
  It is part of an offensive by this administration. We saw it on 
Sunday with Condoleezza Rice, our Secretary of State, and with Vice 
President Cheney's appearance on television. We saw and heard the 
statements they made to justify a war in Iraq, a war which, 
unfortunately, is not going well.
  The Senator from Pennsylvania objected to Senator Reid saying that we 
were involved in some sort of sectarian violence in Iraq. Those are not 
original words of the Senator from Nevada. He made reference to the 
General Accountability Office which released its report yesterday in 
which it said:

       Iraq's political process has sharpened the country's 
     sectarian divisions, polarized relations between its ethnic 
     and religious groups, and weakened its sense of national 
     identity.

  The Senator from Pennsylvania criticized the Democratic leader for 
being political and partisan in saying these words. But the same words 
were used by the General Accountability Office. It is a fact. We can't 
ignore it. The situation in Iraq has worsened.
  Mr. President, do you know what the GAO reported in terms of violence 
in Iraq? The figures are startling. I read the report:

       The Pentagon said enemy attacks against coalition and Iraqi 
     forces increased by 23 percent from 2004 to 2005. The number 
     of attacks from January to July 2006 were 57 percent higher 
     than during the same period in 2005.

  The GAO published a graph yesterday. The number of attacks rose from 
around 100 in May of 2003 to roughly 4,500 in July of 2006. Is it 
political or partisan to note the obvious, the GAO report to which 
Senator Reid made reference? That is not political partisanship; that 
is a reality, and we should face that reality because Iraq does 
continue to slip into civil war despite the billions that we have spent 
and the thousands of American lives which have been lost in that 
battle.
  There is another political reality. Osama bin Laden is still on the 
loose. Al-Qaida's membership, estimated at 20,000 on 9/11, is now 
estimated by our intelligence agencies at 50,000. Instead of shrinking 
and disappearing, they are growing geometrically.
  And there is another reality. The Taliban is gaining ground again in 
Afghanistan. They have set up shop in Pakistan where that Government 
has agreed to have a safe haven for some of these terrorist forces. 
That is unfortunate, and it is disastrous when you think of our long-
term war on terrorism.
  Sitting at home in Springfield, IL, over the weekend, I listened to 
Vice President Cheney when he appeared on ``Meet the Press.'' He said 
that those of us who make these speeches about the reality of the war 
in Iraq are not showing the kind of resolve that we should. We are 
somehow validating terrorism. We are weakening America's efforts to 
fight terrorism.
  I couldn't disagree more. If Members of Congress--if the American 
public cannot stand up and speak when they disagree with the policies 
of this administration, we have lost sight of the values of this 
democracy and how important they are. Despite the Intelligence 
Committee's disclosure of how we were misled into the war in Iraq, and 
despite the situation on the ground today, when Vice President Cheney 
says he would do it all again, it is a reminder that this 
administration is resolute in continuing on a path that does not make 
us safer and, in fact, endangers our troops even as we stand and speak 
today. It strikes me as odd that this Vice President, after the 
Intelligence Committee report, did not show even a hint of 
embarrassment for some of the things he said before the invasion of 
Iraq and not even a word of regret for misleading the American people.
  Well, we have a different vision. We believe there are things we can 
do to make America safe and strong. Let's take the 9/11 Commission 
report. Let's take their recommendations and make them reality--100 
percent of them. Instead of a failing grade, let's have an A+ so that 
America can take these recommendations and move forward.
  The budget of the Bush administration has continued to cut these 
recommendations, has refused to fund the things that will make us 
safer, whether it is a stronger National Guard, a better communications 
system, stronger port facilities, more surveillance and security of 
chemical plants and nuclear powerplants, better security on Amtrak, on 
mass transit--these are things the Democrats on this side of the aisle 
believe should be our highest priority in making America safe.
  We need to strengthen our ports and our nuclear powerplants in my 
State and across the Nation. We need to cut our dependence on foreign 
oil so that we aren't indirectly subsidizing terrorism and indirectly 
subsidizing those who are killing our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
And we need to push to change course in Iraq. We need a responsible 
redeployment of troops so that the Iraqis understand this is their 
battle, this is their war, this is their country. There has to come a 
time, in this fourth year of a war that has lasted longer than the 
Korean war, when the Iraqis stand and fight for their own country, when 
American troops are replaced and can come home.
  Last week, the administration sent 5,000 more troops to Iraq. There 
is no end in sight. The President said we must stay the course. I think 
we need to change the course. We need to start the redeployment of 
American troops--not precipitous, immediate withdrawal; that would be 
wrong, but to start the redeployment of American troops so the Iraqis 
stand and fight for their own nation, so that our troops, having served 
us so well and so honorably, can come home safely.
  The sad reality in Afghanistan is if we don't put more force in place 
there, we are not going to see the results for which we fought for so 
long. Afghanistan is tough territory. Many have learned that. The 
British Empire learned it. The Soviet Union learned it as well. If we 
are not going to become victims of the same fate, we need to make 
certain that our commitment to NATO and Afghanistan is real. That is 
part of the war on terrorism.
  The Senator from Pennsylvania said of Senator Reid that he didn't 
take our opponents seriously. The Senator from Pennsylvania is wrong. 
Senator Reid understands terrorism, as we all do. He understands that 
we need to stand together, on a bipartisan basis, to make America safe 
and to fight the right war in the right place, to win a victory that 
counts. That is why he spoke today. We should never forget, according 
to the Senator from Pennsylvania, that we are fighting an enemy that 
wants to die. He said that has never happened before.
  I think a brief study of history would tell him it has. The Japanese 
Kamikaze fliers had the same death wish as those who are suicide 
bombers today. It has happened before. It doesn't make it any less of a 
threat, but the fact is, we have faced it before and we have overcome 
it.
  It is interesting that as we listen to our military experts, they 
tell us we cannot win in Iraq militarily no matter how many troops we 
put in place; we have to win politically. We have to stop and reflect 
on the fact that there is a large swath of this world that doesn't 
understand who we are and what we stand for. They continually are told 
the wrong thing about America. They continue to be misled. So as we are 
strong militarily, as we must be, as we must defend America at home, we 
must also reach out and spread the word about what America's

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values are, what we are willing to stand for, so that we are better 
understood in this world and so that this new generation, looking for 
an impression of the United States, doesn't come up with the wrong 
impression.
  As we consider what we face today in the closing weeks of this 
session, let's make sure we do stand together in a bipartisan fashion 
for defending America as our homeland. Let's put the resources in place 
to make us safer. We continue to stand behind our troops, but let us 
not be so bull-headed that we won't consider any change in tactic or 
strategy that might start to bring our troops home safely, with their 
mission truly accomplished this time, and let's not give up on 
Afghanistan. We cannot allow the Taliban to have a resurgence of power 
and give al-Qaida another place to gather forces to launch against the 
world. That is our mission. That is our responsibility.
  As we gathered yesterday, it was a reminder that at one time not that 
long ago we stood together in that effort.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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