Maurice Hinchey: “Your point, of course, is a very good one. And what caused that, caused the people of the world, who had been united…”

“Your point, of course, is a very good one. And what caused that, caused the people of the world, who had been united with us after the attack of September 11, 2001, but became disunited from us, became questioning of our attitudes and actions, all of that came about as a result of the falsification of information by this administration to the Congress of the United States and the people of the United States alleging that there was a connection between Iraq and Saddam Hussein to the attack of September 11, 2001, and subsequently alleging that Saddam Hussein had so-called weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons, and a nuclear weapons program, when all of the major intelligence given to the administration said that there was no evidence of so-called weapons of mass destruction. And it was clear that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. If anything, the two were enemies, not united in any way. They are antagonists, and certainly, then, no connection between al Qaeda and Iraq. And the world saw the falsification of that information and they began to back away from us. And eventually so many people and so many countries around the world turned their backs on the United States because of the falsification of information by this administration and the perils that they saw our country engaged in in the Middle East, and to some extent here at home. So we have a responsibility.…”