Maurice Hinchey: “next Monday, 5 days from now, it will be 5 years since we experienced the attack of September 11, 2001. That was one of…”

“next Monday, 5 days from now, it will be 5 years since we experienced the attack of September 11, 2001. That was one of the most tragic circumstances ever to confront this country. More than 3,000 Americans lost their lives. But it has developed into an additionally tragic circumstance for our Nation as a whole, because the administration and the Congress, the entire government of our country, the legislative and executive branches, failed to address the issue properly. The administration called upon the Congress to give it the authority to conduct itself in a way that was entirely inappropriate, and on October 16, the majority of the Members of this Congress voted to give the President that authority. As a result of that, we have now been bogged down as a result of the attack in Iraq and the subsequent occupation for more than 3 years, and the administration and this Congress have no plan for relieving ourselves of that obligation and responsibility. One of the tragic aspects of that, of course, is the fact that more than 2,600 American servicemen and women have now lost their lives. That number now is approaching the number of Americans who lost their lives as a result of the attack of September 11th by the al Qaeda network. There are a great many issues that this Congress has failed to address. Let me begin by talking just for a minute or two about the circumstances that existed prior to that attack of September 11, 2001.…”