Lynn C. Woolsey: “on April 20 of last year, I spoke in this Chamber in opposition to the war in Iraq and my belief that we needed a new…”

“on April 20 of last year, I spoke in this Chamber in opposition to the war in Iraq and my belief that we needed a new SMART Security plan to protect America. Since then nearly every day that this body has been in session, I have again taken to the floor to express my outrage about our Nation's disastrous Iraq policy and the urgency for a different approach. Today I rise for the 100th time on this gravely important topic. Since I first spoke out last spring, look at what has happened: The Abu Ghraib story broke soon thereafter. We learned that the Pentagon sent our troops into battle without basic safety equipment. The Downing Street memo revealed that the decision to invade Iraq had been made as early as July 2002 with the intelligence and facts being fixed around the policy. And they were so committed to the lies peddled to sell this war that the President's top aide was willing to blow the cover of a CIA agent to smear a White House critic. And most importantly, since last April more than 1,000 Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq, with thousands more wounded, and let us not forget the countless innocent Iraqi civilians who have died simply because they had the misfortune of living in a nation we wished to occupy. And what have we paid for the right to kill and be killed? More than $80 billion in supplemental appropriations for Iraq since last April alone.…”