Today, Congressman Bill Delahunt released the following statement on House Con. Resolution 63, which passed the House by a vote of 246-182:

“This is a dangerously wrong-headed strategy that will drive America deeper into an unwinnable swamp at a great cost.  And if it's carried out it represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam.”

This assessment the Bush escalation policy was made by the Republican Senator from Nebraska, Chuck Hagel – a decorated Vietnam veteran who originally supported the invasion of Iraq.

And I concur with his observation.  But his conclusion should come as no surprise.  After all, this Administration’s Iraq policy has been a series of mistakes and bad choices from the beginning.

The Bush/Cheney team was obsessed with Iraq.  In fact, according to former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill, their very first National Security Council meeting focused on Saddam and Iraq. Just days after President Bush was inaugurated.  And a map, noting Iraqi oilfields and potential bidders for oil contracts, was presented for review.  That was in February 2001.  Months before 9/11!

We all remember that awful day in September 2001.  When America was attacked by al Qaeda. Not Iraq.  But by al Qaeda.  Nevertheless, almost immediately, plans for attacking Iraq were initiated.  With the Vice President as its most vigorous advocate.  Secretary Powell is reported to have observed that the Vice President had “the fever” – war fever.

Former counterterrorism czar Dick Clarke has described how, even as the smoke was still rising from 9/11, the Administration began looking for ways to use it to attack Iraq.

The American people were told that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.  That he was a clear and imminent threat.  That he was an ally of al Qaeda.  That if we did not invade Iraq, there could be mushroom clouds over American cities.

None of that was true.  To the contrary, there was plenty evidence that the secular Baathists of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the religious fanatics of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda were rivals.  In fact bin Laden had publicly condemned Saddam as an apostate who had corrupted Islam and repressed Muslims.  There was little evidence that Saddam’s regime possessed nuclear or biological weapons, or – even if it did – that it would share such materials with an uncontrollable group of apocalyptic terrorists like al Qaeda.

But the Administration did not listen to those who knew what they were talking about.  Professionals like Greg Thielmann, the Director of the strategic, proliferation and military issues office in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research.  He told me personally that in his professional opinion, after years of studying the issue, Saddam did not have a nuclear weapons program.

Instead, the Administration relied on the likes of Ahmed Chalabi.  An embezzler who had been convicted in Jordan of bank fraud.  Who is alleged to have provided Iran with information about US troop movements.  And who is presumably still under investigation by the FBI.

Chalabi provided so-called “defectors” from Iraq who – surprise, surprise – said exactly what the Administration wanted to hear.  The most notorious was code-named “Curveball” – how appropriate – and was the source of the now-discredited claim about a mobile bioweapons program.  The German intelligence agency warned that the man did not live in Iraq and described him as an "out of control" and mentally unstable alcoholic.  It later turned out that he was the brother of one of Chalabi’s top aides.  But he was one of the primary sources for Secretary Powell’s statement at the United Nations that convinced many to support the war.

Furthermore, in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, the Administration told the American people that it would be easy.  That we would be greeted as liberators. That Iraq would pay for its own reconstruction.  And that peace and democracy would flourish.

None of that was true.  The American people were sold a bill of goods.  But those of us who raised doubts were ignored.  Some even questioned our patriotism. 

But the responsibility for this mess is not the President’s alone.  It is shared by the preceding two Congresses, which abdicated their constitutional responsibility to oversee and review the conduct of the war and the occupation.  We will never know if serious oversight and insisting on answers over the past four years would have made a difference.

But we do know that thousands of Americans and Iraqis have died.  Billions of American and Iraqi taxpayer dollars have been wasted.  The Middle East is on the verge of a war that could devastate the region and the global economy.  And terrorist groups are multiplying because of Iraq.  Some confuse the war on Iraq with the war on terror.  But that could not be further from reality. 

The fact is that the war in Iraq has severely damaged our efforts to fight al Qaeda and terrorism.  That’s not just my judgment: that’s the consensus judgment of US intelligence agencies.  In April 2006, they prepared a National Intelligence Estimate.  It represents the consensus judgment of the entire US intelligence community.  Here’s what it said:

“The Iraq conflict has become the “cause celebre” for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement.

Meanwhile, the war in Iraq has done nothing to stop al Qaeda and its affiliates from launching attacks around the world.  I refer you to a Dear Colleague letter sent by two of our Republican colleagues which clearly describes that reality.  It includes a list of attacks that plainly demonstrates that terrorism is global in nature.  While we are stuck in the sands of Iraq, radical Islamists are launching major assaults everywhere.  Because this Administration, as a result of its bungled misadventure in Iraq, has hurt our efforts against terrorism.

Remember, we were attacked on September 11, not by Iraq, but by al Qaeda.  Which was based in Afghanistan.  And we responded, with worldwide support, by going to war against al Qaeda and liberating Afghanistan from al Qaeda’s allies, the Taliban.  But then what happened?  The Administration took its eye off the ball.  And invaded Iraq.  It’s as if we had responded to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor by invading Mexico.  Even though we had not yet defeated al Qaeda, the Administration pulled intelligence and Special Forces assets from Afghanistan in order to prepare for the invasion of Iraq.  Now we are in danger of losing Afghanistan to al Qaeda and their Taliban allies.

Enough.  As Senator Hagel said, this is “Alice in Wonderland…it is folly.” And the American people know it.  It’s time to get back to fighting the terrorists.  It’s time to concentrate on victory in the war on terror.

Oppose the escalation.  Support the resolution.

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