Robert Wexler: “Mr. Speaker, today I stand with the American people in support of this resolution and in opposition to the President's…”

“Mr. Speaker, today I stand with the American people in support of this resolution and in opposition to the President's escalation of the Iraq war. I stand in opposition to a President that failed the American people by initiating an ill-conceived war; an administration that misled the Nation, vulnerable after 9/11, into believing that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction; an administration that invented links between Baghdad and al Qaeda; that ignored the views of the intelligence community, while convincing Americans that our brave soldiers would be greeted in Iraq as liberators; an administration that assured us that Iraqi oil money would pay for the reconstruction; and that through military force, rather than diplomacy, we would cultivate American values of freedom and democracy in Iraq. The American people know that they have been taken down a false path by this administration, down a spiraling path of war under false pretenses into a quagmire with a President who will not change course, even in the face of a growing civil war. This resolution sends the President an unequivocal message that he must change direction of this war. How did we arrive in this desperate situation? From the top down, the President, the Vice-President and the Secretary of State have manipulated evidence, broadcast half truths, and doctored intelligence through an orchestrated effort to smear and destroy those who have opposed their policies.”