Woolsey Marks Four-Year Anniversary of the Invasion Of Iraq

[BuyingThyme]

Woolsey Marks Four-Year Anniversary of the Invasion Of Iraq

March 19, 2007

-Calls on colleagues to remember the costs of the war-

Washington, DC - A Co-Founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus, and the Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) took to the House floor today to mark the four-year anniversary of the occupation of Iraq. Woolsey, who in January 2005 was the first Member of Congress to call for a withdrawal from Iraq, questioned what had been accomplished after four years. Her text, as prepared for delivery is below:

“Madam Speaker, on the evening of March 19, 2003, speaking from the Oval Office, the President of the United States started his address to the nation with these words:

“My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.”

Here we are 4 years later, and it’s fair to ask - indeed it’s incumbent upon us to ask:

“Have we disarmed Iraq? Well, first off, as we all know, there were no weapons of mass destruction to disarm, so that whole premise was flawed. The question we have to ask is: have we made Iraq safer?

“We may have deposed Saddam Hussein, but with insurgents, militias and vigilantes terrorizing Iraqi neighborhoods, some of them with the tacit support of the Iraqi government, it’s impossible to say we’ve disarmed Iraq or made its people and communities more secure.

“Have we freed its people? Well, I can think of at least 60,000 Iraqis for starters whom haven’t been freed - that’s the most conservative estimate of Iraqi civilian deaths over the last 4 years…at least 60,000 killed for the cause of their so-called liberation. And many of those who have escaped death live in fear of it, afraid to go to the market or send their children to school (if there’s still a school for them to attend).

“Too many of them live in communities without electricity, sewage or basic services - have we freed them? And what about those who are so flush with freedom that they have chosen to flee their own country - I’m talking about the 1.5 million-plus Iraqi refugees: why don’t we ask them if they feel free?

“And have we defended the world from grave danger? Indeed not. One study by the Center for Security Studies at NYU Law School concludes that the rate of fatal Muslim terror attacks worldwide has increased by a factor of seven since the Iraq war began. I repeat: that’s 7 times as much terrorism since we started this war (which is more accurately called an occupation), this war that they keep telling us is the central front in the war on terrorism.

“It’s clear: our Iraq policy has had a major impact on the war on terrorism; unfortunately, it appears to be helping the wrong side.

“So, to go back to the President’s statement of exactly 4 years ago…it would appear he has accomplished none of the three tasks he claimed to have begun that night - Iraq is not disarmed; its people are not free; and the world is more dangerous.

“It was never supposed to get to this point. You remember, this was going to be quick and painless. We were going to finish these guys off without breaking a sweat, remember?

“On the very same day that President Bush spoke in front of the infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner, prominent neoconservative Richard Perle actually published an op-ed in a major national newspaper entitled: “Relax, celebrate victory.”

“The cost? Don’t worry, they told us, Iraqi oil revenues will cover the whole thing. They fired the top White House economic adviser for daring to suggest that the war would cost as much as $200 billion. What would they have done to him if they had known he was understating it by a few hundred billion?

“I ask my colleagues who authorized the President to launch the pre-emptive strike on Iraq: is this what you voted for? To invade a country that had no weapons of mass destruction and no link to 9/11? To occupy that country for 4 years, helping foster a vicious insurgency and fan the flames of civil war? If you had known these things...and if you had known that it would cost us 3,200 to date lives and upwards of $400 billion…can you look the American people in the eye and say that you would have done the same thing all over again?

“If your answer is no, if you believe this war has been a mistake, then it makes absolutely no sense to let it continue any longer. And it makes even less sense to hand the President an additional hundred-billion dollar check with which to continue the same disastrous policy.

“Our troops have done their job. They and their families have sacrificed more than enough. They have been forced to dig for scrap metals in order to armor their vehicles. They have endured substandard care, bureaucratic delays and squalid conditions at Walter Reed. They have been betrayed by the grievous mistakes of their civilian superiors. Support our troops; bring them home!

“I have 4 grandchildren who weren’t even born 4 years ago - they’ve never lived in a world unclouded by this shameful, destructive and unnecessary war. And I fear that, if this Congress doesn’t act, they will be living with its consequences well into their adult lives. It is for them, for the America they will inherit, that I want this war to end.

“It’s time to act boldly. Americans are crying out for leadership, for their elected representatives to hear their frustrations about Iraq and to move decisively in response.

“This is a gut-check moment. Do you want it said about the 110th Congress that it failed the test of history, that it continued to send young Americans to kill and be killed on a mission that did nothing to enhance our national security or promote U.S. foreign policy interests?

"Do you want it said that we made a tragic mistake even worse, that we blindly rubber-stamped a failed policy that has ignited a civil war and inspired a new generation of terrorists?

“The Iraq policy of the last 4 years has proven ruinous and misguided at every turn, by any objective measure. As a matter of humanitarian obligation and political accountability, it’s time to change course.

“In the name of national security, fiscal responsibility and basic human decency…we must get our troops out of Iraq and bring them by the end of this year…. bring them home for the holidays.

http://woolsey.house.gov/latestnews.asp?ARTICLE5110=449724

[BayCityProgressive]

1. ONE OF THE FEW WORTH VOTING FOR.