Washington, DC— On Thursday, June 15, 2006, the House of Representatives commenced twelve hours of debate on H. Res 861, a resolution on the war in Iraq.  The resolution, not open for amendment, called for staying the course in Iraq.  Congresswoman Watson, who has consistently opposed U.S. actions in Iraq, voted against H. Res 861.  She described the war as “blunder after blunder” that is the outgrowth of the administration’s “bitter fruit of arrogance.”   Below are Watson's remarks:

“Mr. Speaker, and Mr. Boehner—thank you for scheduling this debate.  It is a long overdue debate, a belated discussion of this war of choice.  This war—so far—has cost us the lives of close to twenty-five hundred American men and women, let alone tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, has cost us three hundred twenty billion dollars, and has weakened United States prestige and brought our interests and our values into question to a degree not seen since the the Berlin Wall divided Europe.

“So I thank you for scheduling this debate on the President’s War of Choice in Iraq.  But debate is a poor a substitute for oversight.  And it is our failure here in Congress to perform our duty of oversight which has cost America most.

“From the beginning of the march to war, the President and his advisors blundered into failure after failure.  False claims about African uranium and mobile anthrax labs.  Unlikely claims of Saddam’s links to al Qaeda.  Stubbornly ignoring the advice of the uniformed military about troop levels.  Turning a blind eye to the venal corruption that swallowed nine billion dollars of Iraqi money — and UN oil for food money — without a trace.  Shame on us!

“All these failures have a common relevance.  All were the bitter fruit of the arrogance of our President and his advisors.

“Mr. Speaker, our Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, gave us a mechanism, a defense against the tyranny of such hubris.  It is called Congressional oversight.  And it is about time that we start doing our duty to the American people by performing that oversight.

“So Mr. Speaker, and Mr. Boehner, while I welcome this debate, it is a poor substitute for what we really should have been doing—oversight.  I call upon you to withdraw this empty resolution—withdraw this meaningless, self-congratulatory fraudulent scam—and let us work together to examine our mistakes, fix them, and bring our troops home!

“The President says we need to 'stay in Iraq until the mission is complete'  But the President cannot explain to the American people exactly what our mission is—let alone tell us when he expects to complete it.

“Let’s take credit toward victory by the completion of a democratic structured government and killing the biggest terrorist in Iraq, claim this victory, and keep our word by honorably redeploying our forces.  Three and a half years is hardly cutting and running!

“We all share the same dream that the Iraqi people do.  We want them to live in peace, in a secure, prosperous society where they are free to choose their government.  But the presence of our troops and our occupation of Iraq has become such an obstacle to that future that we can no longer ignore reality.  How can you win a war against terrorism when terrorism is a concept?  You must change hearts and minds.

“So let’s work together to bring our courageous troops home, and put an end to this devastating war of choice.”