Below is Schakowsky’s statement:

“I wish to commend Congressman Kucinich for his tireless pursuit of the truth.  I am proud to join him in this effort to push the Bush Administration to give members of Congress the evidence they used to justify the invasion of Iraq.  

“Under the headline, If Weapons Reports were Wrong, We Need to Know Why, The Chicago Sun-Times asked today in an editorial, ‘Was prewar intelligence wrong, or overstated?  Were Americans and the world given bad information’?  

“These are serious questions that must be answered immediately.  The credibility of this President is on the line.  Is it possible that this Administration decided in advance the answers they wanted from the intelligence agencies and then demanded information to support their rationale?  Is it possible that they ignored intelligence reports and manipulated evidence?  Congress and the American people have the right to know.

“On October 7, 2002, The President of the United States said that Iraq 'possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons.'   On September 12, 2002, President Bush told the United Nations and world leaders, 'Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.'  And on March 16, before a national television audience, Vice President Dick Cheney said, 'We believe he [Saddam Hussein] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.'

“If those statements are indeed factually true, then I would say show me the evidence.  The Administration should turn over information that would collaborate their empirical claims.  I would think that President Bush and Vice President Cheney would want the American people and the world to see how they arrived at such conclusions.  

“Now, the Bush Administration is shifting its justification for war by saying it was a good thing to get rid of a brutal regime.  That was not the reason the President and the administration gave the American people for invading Iraq, nor the debate we had in Congress before the war.  Maybe Americans think we should be the policeman of the world --That is an important debate to have and I welcome it.

“It is dangerous for this or any other Administration to believe that they can commit this nation to a major shift in U.S. international policy that is costing American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars without justifying their reasons.  That is why I stand here with my colleagues demanding the truth and nothing but the truth.”