Mr. Speaker, when the President invaded Iraq in 2003, the American people were warned that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction posed a great threat to peace. We were told that launching a preemptive war would not make life harder for the Iraqi people nor compromise the security of the international community. And we were promised that the quick war to liberate Iraq would come at no cost to America's prestige abroad.

Five years later, it is painfully clear how very wrong the administration was and how dearly we are still paying for its mistakes. The administration launched a war of choice based on half truths, broken promises, and delusions of a swift and easy victory, but the most shameful of the administration's claims was that we were fighting abroad to protect our freedoms at home.

The President argued that sending our Nation's brave servicemen and -women into an unwinnable occupation was the only way we would safeguard our civil liberties. Since then, by repeatedly invoking the possibility of threats to our national security right here at home and abroad, the administration has justified its unprecedented attack on our constitutionally protected freedoms.

Mr. Speaker, we can no longer allow these attacks to go unchallenged. After authorizing the National Security Agency to openly violate Federal laws by eavesdropping on Americans, the administration successfully worked to legalize warrantless spying on innocent Americans. After consistently disregarding laws designed to promote public access to information, the administration expanded laws that authorized the government to withhold information from Congress and the American people.

After championing the virtues of democratic rule of law, the President has openly condoned torture, denied habeas corpus to prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, and fought every single attempt to hold members and friends of his administration accountable for their actions.

This abuse of power at the expense of the rights and freedoms of the American people, often in the name of protecting these very same rights and freedoms, is a shocking betrayal of the will of the American people.

Last month, after the House passed legislation ensuring that every contractor in Iraq would be accountable under American criminal law, the administration granted immunity to Blackwater Security employees who were involved in a Baghdad shooting that left 17 civilians dead.

This administration will never take responsibility for their actions. It will never end the occupation of Iraq. Instead, the attack on our civil liberties will be the only mission they will have accomplished.

Mr. Speaker, it is Congress' responsibility to stand up to this President. We must end the administration's war of choice. We must restore the checks and balances that have been eroded under this President. We must fight for peace and the protection of civil liberties. We must fully fund the safe and orderly withdrawal of all American troops and contractors.

Mr. Speaker, we must give Iraq back to the Iraqi people and America back its integrity.