Lynn C. Woolsey: “first, I need to say I did not know Congressman Edward Roybal; but if he did nothing more than bring his daughter…”

“first, I need to say I did not know Congressman Edward Roybal; but if he did nothing more than bring his daughter, Lucille Roybal-Allard, into this world, he brought a gift to all of us. I honor him for that. Mr. Speaker, I was struck by something that I heard the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee say over the weekend. Now that it is all too clear that the intelligence leading up to the Iraq war was deeply flawed, he was brave enough to say, ``I think a lot of us would really stop and think a minute before we would ever vote for war or take military action.'' And then he added, ``We do not accept this intelligence at face value anymore.'' {time} 2030 Great. I am glad that the gentleman from Kansas, Mr. Roberts, is so cautious and skeptical now, after more than 2,000 soldiers have been killed, after we have poured $200 billion into this war, after we have squandered America's global credibility and goodwill. Back when this could have made a difference, the chairman and so many others in this body and the upper Chamber fell in line behind the President, rubberstamping his war with barely a peep of dissent. Where were the hard questions then? Where was the oversight and the scrutiny back when it could have saved lives and changed the course of history? The latest line of argument from the White House is essentially this: Sure, we were wrong about Saddam and weapons of mass destruction, but we did the best we could with what we had.…”