Gregory Meeks: “I rise to share with the American people the truth about the war in Iraq. For truly it had nothing to do with 9/11 or…”

“I rise to share with the American people the truth about the war in Iraq. For truly it had nothing to do with 9/11 or the war on terrorism. We invaded Iraq because Vice President Cheney erroneously claimed, there is overwhelming evidence that there was a connection between al Qaeda and the Iraq Government. The fact is, Mr. Speaker, that Secretary of State Colin Powell conceded that he had no smoking gun proof of a link between the Government of Iraq, President Saddam Hussein, and the terrorists of al Qaeda. We know there were no weapons of mass destruction. The prewar costs estimates were as incorrect as our intelligence on WMDs. The postwar planning was nonexistent. The laundry list of things we did wrong and the deceptions surrounding this war are never-ending, and we continue to make mistakes even now. No, Mr. Speaker, the mission was not accomplished. Instead of invading Iraq, we should have mobilized all of our forces to pursue and apprehend Osama bin Laden, the terrorist who in fact orchestrated 9/11 while we had him pinned down in Tora Bora, in Afghanistan. At that time we had an opportunity to unite the world and bring people together when we had a true coalition of nations. American families can tell that things are not going well in Iraq. However, a leader, a true leader, a real leader, needs to have a plan. A plan of engagement. A plan of how to exit. We went into war with neither.…”