Maurice Hinchey: “today, the occupation of Iraq continues and we learn that another bomb blast, in fact a series of bomb blasts in Iraq…”

“today, the occupation of Iraq continues and we learn that another bomb blast, in fact a series of bomb blasts in Iraq have resulted in the loss of more than 100 lives. So far, the loss of American servicemen and women's lives is almost 2,000. We have lost almost 2,000 American servicemen and women in Iraq. The American people are asking now with greater frequency a very significant question: Why did we invade Iraq and why are we continuing to occupy that country? Today, the House Committee on International Relations defeated a Resolution of Inquiry, which I introduced, and that defeat came essentially along party lines. Every Democratic member of the House Committee on International Relations voted for the resolution; one Republican voted for it; one Republican did not oppose it. But the resolution lost by one vote because all of the other Republicans on the committee opposed it. What this resolution asked was simply this. It asked the administration, the White House, and the Defense Department to provide to the Congress information with regard to that information which is contained in the so-called Downing Street memos. The Downing Street memos are very interesting. They were first revealed by the Sunday Times of London on May 1, 2005.…”