Political Quotes

“Much media attention has been directed toward the President's State of the Union Address on January 28, 2003, wherein he alleged an Iraqi nuclear threat which the Vice President's office knew was false almost a year earlier. More attention needs to be paid to false and misleading statements which preceded the vote on the Iraqi resolution in this House. Two days before the vote on October 8, 2002, speaking in Cincinnati, the President spoke of his determination to attack Iraq: "Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun, that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." This chilling apocalyptic statement was not based on clear evidence of peril but was, in fact, based on falsehoods hidden from public view by the office of the Vice President. Did the Vice President's office knowingly conceal information its own representative obtained that Iraq was, in fact, not attempting to purchase nuclear materials from Niger? Was the White House in possession of the same information prior to the President giving his shocking declaration in Cincinnati? There is no question that the President's statements, which we now know were false and misleading, influenced the debate in this House and the decision to go to war. It is imperative we have open public hearings to wash this stain from our national reputation.”