Bart Stupak: “President Bush's latest attacks on those who have questioned whether his administration manipulated the intelligence to…”

“President Bush's latest attacks on those who have questioned whether his administration manipulated the intelligence to justify a war against Iraq is based on flawed arguments and falsehoods. First, the President said Congress had access to the same intelligence as the White House prior to the war. This is false. The Washington Post writes, and I quote, Bush and his aides had access to much more voluminous intelligence information than did lawmakers who were dependent on the administration to provide the material. Second, President Bush claimed the bipartisan Senate investigation found that he did not misrepresent prewar intelligence. Again, the President's statements are wrong. The Senate Intelligence Committee is not expected to complete this phase of their investigation until next year. Third, the President said intelligence agencies around the world agreed with the Bush administration's assessment of the Iraqi threat. Once again, this statement is false. Many of our international friends concluded that Iraq's threat did not rise to the level of justifying immediate military force. Mr. Speaker, the Bush administration refuses to live in reality. It has no plans in Iraq other than, stay the course. This administration makes decisions with no understanding of the consequences of those decisions. The reality is, we lost six more servicemen in Iraq in the last 24 hours. ____________________”