Political Quotes

“let me say at the outset I commend my colleague from New Jersey, Senator Corzine, who came to this floor several months ago and said we need an independent commission to look at the intelligence that led up to an invasion of Iraq, and the use of that intelligence, and called for a vote on that issue. I don't remember the final outcome of that vote, but I know I stood with him because I thought it was the right thing to do. Many people on our side of the aisle and the other side of the aisle resisted that suggestion, saying the Senate Intelligence Committee would be able to do this investigation. But the Senator from New Jersey has hit the nail on the head. Senator Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, made it clear long ago that our committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee, would not look into the use of intelligence but, rather, whether it was accurately gathered and presented to the policymakers. That is a critically important question and one that would be part of any valid investigation. But equally important, if not more, is whether or not that information, once given to the policymakers, was honestly communicated to the American people. I can think of nothing worse in this open forum of government than to have the suggestion that there were misrepresentations made to the American people on something as critical as a decision to invade a sovereign nation. That is the question before the Senate.”