Norman D. Dicks: “first of all, I want the gentleman to know that I have supported Chairman Glickman, I am supporting and cosponsoring the…”

“first of all, I want the gentleman to know that I have supported Chairman Glickman, I am supporting and cosponsoring the amendment of the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Conyers, and the President supports, as does the Aspin-Brown Commission, making the aggregate dollar number known to the American public. I would only say one thing to the gentleman about his statement about Kuwait. George Bush, as President, the first thing he stated after the invasion was that it was not an intelligence failure. We knew several days ahead of time, but again, it is always hard for the American Government, the national command authority, when it is getting differing opinions from government heads in the area that, well, Saddham will not do this, to take action. It was not a failure of intelligence. We did have 2 or 3 days of warning. It is acting on that warning that is always difficult under our form of government. So I do not want to disparage the intelligence agencies here. They gave them the information. The leadership could not make a decision that quickly.”