Political Quotes

“March 19 will mark the 3-year anniversary of the Iraq war. For 3 years, we have heard the President respond to questions about his handling of the war in Iraq with, ``Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?'' Kind of like what Groucho Marx used to say. For 3 years, we have seen the President and his supporters celebrate milestones in Iraq as an indication that the insurgency was ``in its last throes,'' while the insurgency actually continues to grow and persist. While the administration keeps trying to spin its way out of Iraq, we keep witnessing the truth. Today, for instance, John Negroponte told the Senate Armed Services Committee, ``Even if a broad and inclusive national government emerges, there will almost certainly be a lag time before we see any dampening effect on the insurgency.'' In other words, even if we establish a functioning government and democracy, the insurgency in Iraq will persist, just the opposite of what the administration has been telling us. Mr. Speaker, it is time that the President acknowledge what we can all see with our own eyes every night, that the administration's failure to secure the peace early in Iraq has led Iraq to the brink it is in today. Had we secured not just the war, but the first days of the occupation with a plan for that occupation and actually secured the country and had not allowed the first levels of insurgency to grow, to metastasize to what we have today, we would never have what we have now.…”