Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today made remarks on the Senate floor underscoring her support for a Senate resolution expressing “no confidence” in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s stewardship of the Department of Defense. Senator Clinton reiterated the need for a new direction in Iraq, emphasizing that “we went to war with the secretary of defense we had. Now it is time to complete the mission with a new secretary of defense that we need.” The following is the text of Senator Clinton’s remarks on the Senate floor.

We are here debating this resolution for two simple reasons. First, no matter how the lily is gilded, things are not going well in our war against terrorism and there is no doubt that we need new leadership. Secondly, this Congress has abdicated its constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight and hold the administration accountable for the decisions which it has made over the course of the last five years.

This is quite unusual in American history because ordinarily the Congress would play that role of check and balance. You know, in the middle of World War II, which truly was a world war, then-Senator Harry Truman was the chair of a commission looking into war profiteering and other matters related to the conduct of the war. There was a Democratic Congress, a Democratic president, and yet the Congress, under then-Senator Truman's leadership, fulfilled its responsibility.

During the Vietnam War, which ripped this country apart, Senator Fulbright felt compelled to hold hearings about the conduct of that war -- a Democratic Congress, a Democratic president, fulfilling its responsibility. Well, we've seen none of that with very few exceptions. This Congress has been either intimidated or negligent in the fulfillment of its responsibilities to hold the administration accountable.

You know, absolute power not only corrupts but it can lead to bad decisions. And this has been a very small group of decision-makers.

You know, recently the president changed the leadership of his economic team because we all know the economy is not doing as well as advertised. Profits are up, productivity is up, but average wages and income aren't. And it's getting harder and harder for the average American to make ends meet. So the president changed his economic leadership, changed his chief of staff in the White House, and yet there is no accountability with respect to his security team.

I've just returned, like my colleagues, from our recess, and I visited throughout my state, and in every kind of community people are expressing deep concerns about the direction we are heading when it comes to the war in Iraq, when it comes to American security interests. New Yorkers, as most Americans, want things set right in Iraq when so much both has gone wrong and seems to continue to go wrong. And so what we're asking for is some accountability.

Now, there is no illusion on this side of the aisle that this resolution will pass. We know it won't. We may not even get a vote on it because, heaven forbid, the other side would have to stand up and actually vote. We know that many on the other side share our doubts. Privately, they will say some of the most harsh and critical comments about the secretary of defense, about the president, about the vice president and the conduct of this war. But they abdicate their responsibility in public. So we have no illusions we are going to get a vote on this. And yet we owe it to ourselves, our troops, our fellow citizens to raise these issues.

One doesn't have to read the recently published book "Fiasco" or the book before it "Cobra II" to see how badly things have gone. We know that. And at the center of so many of the wrong calls, the misjudgments, the strategic blunders, has been the secretary of defense.

No one is questioning his patriotism, his honorable service. We're questioning his judgment and his leadership.

We went to war with the secretary of defense we had. Now it is time to complete the mission with a new secretary of defense that we need.

It is past time. And our friends on the other side will come forward and make the most impassioned arguments about how things are going and how we have to stay the course and what has to be done in order to succeed, but under Secretary Rumsfeld's leadership, it has not happened. We have a full-fledged insurgency and full-blown sectarian conflict in Iraq. I don't care what you label it -- civil war, sectarian violence -- the fact is, the Iraqis are losing hundreds and hundreds of lives and as of yesterday 2,652 servicemen and women have been killed in Iraq; amongst them, 123 New Yorkers.

We didn't go with enough troops to establish law and order, to put down a marker as to our authority as we replaced an authoritarian dictatorship. We went with this dysfunctional bureaucracy known as the Coalition Provisional Authority, which disbanded the Iraqi Army, which we're now trying to re-create.

Secretary Rumsfeld rejected virtually all of the planning that had been done previously to maintain stability when the regime was overthrown, and he deliberately and repeatedly underestimated the nature and strength of the insurgency, the sectarian violence and the spread of Iranian influence.

Let us not confuse the leadership's failures with either the remaining mission in Iraq or the war on terrorism or with our support for our troops. What we have here is a failure of leadership to accomplish that mission. What was hailed as our shortest war has now become one of our longest. What was hailed as a model of democracy teeters on the brink of complete anarchy. What was the leadership that quickly claimed credit for success has been lethargic in the face of misjudgments and setbacks. I don't see what other conclusion one can draw.

You know, we will have the same president and vice president for the next two years, but why not ask the president to exercise his judgment to bring in new leadership to send a new signal to our troops, to our military leadership, to our friends and our allies and to our country that, guess what, we get it? We need new leadership.

When I confronted Secretary Rumsfeld a month ago, he continued to obfuscate and deny responsibility. He denied he ever painted a rosy picture in Iraq. In response, my office compiled a list of 13 statements out of many that he had made which clearly painted a rosy scenario. I ask unanimous consent that those statements be included in the record.

It is time for the United States Senate to exercise our responsibility; for the members of this chamber to decide, what do we owe our constituents, our young men and women in uniform? What do we owe history in terms of our responsibility? We know the answer. Whether we stand up and deny it or not, we know the answer.

History is going to judge this period harshly. I wish that we could as a body redeem ourselves and redeem this mission, give it a chance for success with new eyes and ears, with new way of thinking and leading. I have no idea who the president might ask to replace the secretary were he to be asked to leave or resign. But I have to believe that some fresh thinking, some new ideas, would make a difference.

It is time that we put our policy, our chance for success, ahead of politics; that we put wise decision making and new leadership ahead of the status quo. When it's not working, why do we keep digging a deeper hole?

And so, Mr. President, I would hope that this body would exercise responsibility in the only way open to us since we cannot have the oversight and accountability that the Congress should be demanding.

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