Barbara Lee: “There is no mistake with regard to the error the United States made in going to war with Iraq in 2003, a decision which…”

“There is no mistake with regard to the error the United States made in going to war with Iraq in 2003, a decision which I proudly opposed. It was based on lies that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and we knew there were none. While two decades have passed since then, there is little doubt about the trauma experienced by the country that is still felt to this day. Iraqis fell prey to conflict and instability, experienced an uncountable number of deaths and displacements, and saw an erosion of their basic services, including health and education. An entire generation of children grew up in a chaos-filled environment with war and the subsequent emergence of terrorist groups and militias. That is as a result of the United States' invasion of Iraq, which I believe, as I remember it, very few, if any, Republicans, opposed. There were about 133 Democrats opposing this. We cannot walk away from our responsibility to help Iraq, now a key partner in the Middle East. As Secretary Blinken has said, America's greatest strategic asset lies within the alliances and partnerships we have with other nations. In partnership with Iraq, we have worked to ensure a stable, prosperous, and democratic country, which, quite frankly, we in many ways destroyed.…”