Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District
Issues
Iraq Watch
See The Last Iraq Watch For The Year!
Aired Right Before The Vice Presidential Debate
5 October, 2004
- 4:00 PM PST (approximately)
- Aired live on C-SPAN
As you may be aware, the United States continues to face problems with the occupation in Iraq.Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, the former Bush-appointed administrator to the U.S.-led occupation, has now stated that poor planning has led to continuing problems and "an atmosphere of lawlessness." This admission comes on the heels of National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice admitting that their was debate within the intelligence community as to the actual purpose of the aluminum tubes which she previously claimed could only be used to develop nuclear weapons.Similarly, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently responded to questions about the connections between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda that Vice President Cheney has frequently touted by saying, "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two."
Recently, we have seen reports that a National Intelligence Estimate outlined the conflict in Iraq in July by saying that the best result we could hope for was a long arduous occupation, and at worst, a complete civil war. In the face of this evidence and the recent admissions by officials within the Bush Administration, it is increasingly important that we continue to take a realistic look at the war in Iraq, and I invite you to watch as I am joined by several of my colleagues to speak on the floor of the House of Representatives tonight as a part of regular Iraq Watch discussions.
Iraq Watch Archive
The American people remain concerned about the United States’ policy in Iraq, as well as the false intelligence used to justify our preemptive invasion of this nation. To address and highlight these problems, my Congressional colleagues and I hold weekly public “Iraq Watch” discussions on the House floor. The purpose of Iraq Watch is to examine and evaluate the United States' past and future policy in Iraq. The group will continue to scrutinize the intelligence used to justify the war, and encourage President Bush to include our allies in the rebuilding of Iraq.
Transcripts of Iraq Watch Debates:
* You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view and print the Iraq Watch transcripts; download the free software here.
- [ Crossing Iraq Off the To-Do List ] – Sept 13, 2004
- [ A Sad Milestone ] – Sept 8, 2004
- [ Ten Serious Mistakes ] – July 19, 2004
- [ The Transfer of Power, the Transfer of Problems ] – July 6, 2004
- [ The Ties That Bind ] – June 22, 2004
- [ The Case for War ] – June 21, 2004
- [ The "Spartacus of Iraq" ] – June 2, 2004
- [ The Rising Cost of War ] – May 17, 2004
- [ Those Who Tell the Truth Get Punished ] – May 12, 2004
- [ The Shocking Abuse of Prisoners ] – May 5, 2004
- [ Mistakes in Administration’s Iraq Policy ] – April 28, 2004
- [ The Global Implications ] – March 30, 2004
- [ The Politics of War ] – March 23, 2004
- [ The White House and Saudi Arabia ] – March 17, 2004
- [ The Cost of the War ] – March 9, 2004
- [ Sharing Information with the Public ] – Feb 11, 2004
- [ Developing a Credible Iraqi Government – Nov 21, 2003
- [ Taking Care of our Troops ] – October 15, 2003
- [ Inadequate Planning ] – Sept 30, 2003
- [ The President ... with the American People ] – Sept 23, 2003
- [ We Need Information....We Need A Plan ] – Sept 16, 2003
- [ The President’s Request for $87 Billion ] – Sept 9, 2003
- [ We Need to Give Our Troops Enough Support ] – Sept 3, 2003
- [ A Bipartisan Commission ] – July 21, 2003
- [ An Independent Invest ... Intelligence Failures ] – July 14, 2003
U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee speaks to the audience at his August, 2003 forum in Shoreline, WA to discuss the intelligence used by the Administration to justify the war in Iraq. To his right are forum panelists Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Admiral Bill Center (Ret.), and Professor Brewster Denny.
The continued instability in Iraq illustrates that the transfer of power on June 28th has had a minimal effect in stabilizing the country and bringing about a democratically elected government for the Iraqi people. More concerning is that the Administration continues to apply superficial, band-aid solutions to the significant problems that still plague our troops and the Iraqi people. Accordingly, the United States must adopt a new strategy in Iraq, since the current approach does not ensure the safety of our troops, nor stability and sovereignty for the Iraqi people. Such a new strategy must involve enlisting the support of our allies and the United Nations to address the security needs in Iraq, expediting the date for free and fair Iraqi elections, and scrutinizing the intelligence used to justify the case behind the war in Iraq, so that we can effectively identify new threats to our national security.