Cord Byrd: “yesterday the Prime Minister of Iraq addressed a joint meeting of Congress. In his speech, he stressed his view that…”

“yesterday the Prime Minister of Iraq addressed a joint meeting of Congress. In his speech, he stressed his view that great progress has been made in his country in the past months and equated the violence in Iraq to the al-Qaida attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. With the Prime Minister's comments in mind, it is worth taking stock of how this war began 3 years, 4 months, and 1 week ago. Let me say that again. It is worth taking stock of how this war began 3 years, 4 months, and 1 week ago. The war in Iraq, that is what I am talking about. The war in Iraq. There is a war going on there, and we are involved in it. Our men and women are over there in harm's way. They die every day. The war in Iraq was initiated on the false promise of securing our country from the threat of weapons of mass destruction. That was a false promise. There have been many efforts to try to rewrite history. You can't do it. But there have been efforts to try to rewrite history and to try to find a new justification for the invasion of Iraq. But one need look no further than the use of force authorization passed by the Congress-- when? On October 11, 2002. Look at that use of force resolution. That resolution contains 23 ``whereas'' clauses. You can count them. Ten of those ``whereas'' clauses pertained to Iraq's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.…”