[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 17850-17851]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1945
                     MISTAKES MADE SINCE 9/11/2001

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, like many of my colleagues, I spent part 
of yesterday commemorating the horrific attacks on our Nation 5 years 
ago. It was a day to reflect on the courage and compassion demonstrated 
on September 11, 2001, by police officers, firefighters, medical 
personnel, and ordinary citizens. It was also a day to remember those 
who could not be saved and to say a prayer for the families, especially 
the young children, who were left behind.
  For the first few minutes of his prime time speech last night, the 
President covered all those things. But, unfortunately, he used the 
rest of his time exploiting a national day of mourning to justify the 
occupation of Iraq, a disastrous policy and a failure that has led to 
untold death and destruction and has been rejected by the American 
people. He has done this from almost the

[[Page 17851]]

very moment those planes hit the towers. The President once again 
blurred the distinction between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, 
even though it has been well established that one had nothing to do 
with the other.
  Actually, the President must believe that the American people don't 
know the difference between the two men and the two countries. What an 
insult to the American people.
  The fact is, we never finished the job in Afghanistan. Bin Laden 
remains on the run, even though we had him surrounded in Tora Bora 
nearly 5 years ago. Far from some paragon of freedom, much of 
Afghanistan is still dominated by Taliban rebels and warlords, with the 
opium trade remaining the country's dominant economic force.
  From 9/11 on, the President has used his status as a wartime 
Commander in Chief to justify just about anything he wanted to do, 
without any oversight or accountability from the Republican-controlled 
Congress, running rough-shod over the Constitution, wiretapping 
American citizens without a warrant and setting up secret gulags around 
the world.
  9/11 cried out for genuine leadership, for a unifying figure who 
could comfort the Nation while acting intelligently, rather than 
impulsively, in the face of a new security threat.
  To this day, however, the President uses 9/11 as a talking point to 
make a dishonest argument. Time and time again, he has made the 
decision to choose partisanship over statesmanship, taking every single 
opportunity to fracture national unity for a short-term political gain.
  Worst of all, the President put Afghanistan aside and became 
sidetracked by his white whale in Iraq, using deception, spin and 
misinformation to push the Nation into an ill-fated war.
  Fast forward a few years and look at the mess we are in: nearly 2,700 
American soldiers are dead, and over 20,000 wounded; the occupation is 
costing our Nation dearly and our children and grandchildren will get 
stuck with the bill, a bill which is projected to top $1 trillion.
  And what have we gotten for our sacrifice? Well, we are now a global 
pariah, viewed with suspicion by even our closest allies, and despised 
as never before by our enemies. And we have more enemies. This policy 
has inspired more jihadists and more anti-American sentiment in the 
Muslim world. Instead of bringing hope to Iraq, we have ripped it apart 
at the seams. We lit the match that has engulfed Iraq in a bloody civil 
war, where thugs and vigilantes control the streets. At least 40,000 
Iraqi civilians, and possibly many, many more, have been killed for the 
cause of their so-called liberation.
  Our soldiers are not to blame. They do their jobs, and they do their 
jobs with honor and with valor. They do their jobs, despite being sent 
on an impossible mission under false pretenses without the proper 
training or equipment.
  Madam Speaker, it is time to return these young people to their 
families where they belong. It is time, long past time, that we bring 
our troops home.

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