WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today issued the following
statement after the latest White House attempt to quell the controversy
surrounding President Bush’s misstatements during his State of the Union
address on Iraq’s attempt to purchase uranium from Niger:
“On
the day when news about Iraq is dominated by the killing of Saddam Hussein’s
sons and the safe return home of Private Jessica Lynch, the importance
of White House advisors admitting that the President misled the American
people should not go unnoticed.
“It
is not enough for advisors to take some responsibility for President Bush
falsely informing the country and the world during his State of the Union
address that Iraq attempted to purchase uranium in Africa. It is
not enough for President Bush’s National Security Advisory, Condoleezza
Rice, to shoulder some of the blame, even though she is responsible for
ensuring that President Bush is armed with the most accurate intelligence
information. So far, President Bush, the one man responsible for
taking the nation to war has refused to take responsibility for his words.
And the buck stops there.
“The
American people are entitled to the truth and they have a right to know
if President Bush, Vice President Cheney or any White House officials manipulated
the intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. That is why we
need an independent commission to determine the veracity of the other suspect
evidence used to convince the American people that Iraq posed an imminent
threat to our nation.”
Schakowsky
is an original cosponsor of H.R. 2625, legislation authored by U.S. Representative
Henry Waxman to create an independent commission - modeled after the September
11 Commission - to examine the intelligence about Iraq and the representations
made by executive branch officials about this intelligence. |