[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2382]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     REMARKS OF THE VICE PRESIDENT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, there was an interview between Wolf 
Blitzer and the President of the United States that was aired this 
morning on the news. Some of the statements that were made by the Vice 
President are very difficult to understand. When he was asked about 
Iraq, Vice President Cheney said:

       Bottom line is that we've had enormous successes and we 
     will continue to have enormous successes.

  It is interesting that the Vice President would make this statement 
barely a week after the President of the United States announced that 
we are facing a slow failure in Iraq. The President sees a slow 
failure; the Vice President sees enormous successes.
  This is not the first time the Vice President has made statements 
which defy reality. We can all recall the statements made by him and 
many others in the administration suggesting the presence of weapons of 
mass destruction, nuclear weapons, suggesting a connection somehow 
between Saddam Hussein and the tragedy of 9/11. It turns out that in 
each and every instance the Vice President was wrong.
  We can also remember that in June of 2005 when we were facing one of 
the bloodiest, deadliest periods in Iraq, Vice President Cheney said:

       The level of activity that we see today from a military 
     standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they're in 
     their last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.

  Another quote from the Vice President which was not in touch with the 
reality of the war in Iraq.
  We have had that from the beginning. Whether it was the Vice 
President's suggestion--this comes from March 16, 2003:

       Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from 
     the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in 
     fact, be greeted as liberators.

  I will concede the Vice President later admitted he was wrong in 
making that statement.
  The point I am making is this: If the current Secretary of Defense 
concedes to our Armed Services Committee that we are not winning this 
war, if the Baker-Hamilton bipartisan study group comes forward and 
says the situation is grave and deteriorating, if the President says 
our continued course of action is a slow failure, one has to wonder 
where the Vice President is receiving his information.
  Earlier this morning, I said that he was delusional when it came to 
this issue. To be delusional is to be out of touch with reality. And I 
believe the Vice President has been out of touch with reality when he 
makes comments such as that.
  At the least, the American people expect an honest answer about the 
situation in Iraq. I think what the President has said about a slow 
failure is an honest appraisal. I think what the Secretary of Defense, 
Mr. Gates, said about not winning this war is an honest appraisal. I 
think the findings of the Baker-Hamilton bipartisan study group that 
the situation is grave and deteriorating is an honest appraisal of 
reality.
  This much I will say: The real success in Iraq, if we can point to 
it, is the fact that our brave men and women in uniform have done such 
a remarkable job. They have faced extraordinary responsibilities and 
assignments. They came to Iraq, invaded it, deposed that dictator, 
found him in a hole in the ground and brought him to trial, and gave 
the Iraqi people a chance for free elections and a chance to write 
their own Constitution. Those successes which did occur were the result 
of great determination by our troops in uniform and many brave Iraqis 
who stepped forward and risked their lives to move their nation 
forward.
  But we all know the situation today. As of this morning, we have lost 
3,057 American soldiers. We know that over 23,000 have returned from 
Iraq with injuries, almost 7,000 with serious injuries--amputations, 
blindness, serious burns, traumatic brain injury. Those are the 
realities of what we face.
  We also know that the situation on the ground in Iraq is very 
difficult for most people to understand. When the Prime Minister of 
Iraq, Mr. Maliki, says to the President: We don't need additional 
troops, and the President says we are sending them anyway, when the 
generals in the field say that if America continues to send troops, the 
Iraqis won't accept the responsibility of defending their country and 
the administration says we are going to send troops anyway, I think 
that is evidence that this administration's policy is not connected to 
the reality of what is on the ground in Iraq. And certainly for the 
Vice President to characterize that sad and tragic situation in Iraq 
today as an enormous success is not in touch with the reality of what 
our soldiers face and our country faces.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that 
the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Lincoln). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________