Sherrod Brown: “every time you look, the rationale for the Iraq war has shifted. It went from being about weapons of mass destruction to…”

“every time you look, the rationale for the Iraq war has shifted. It went from being about weapons of mass destruction to removing Saddam Hussein to trying to build a democratic Iraq. We were told this war would be over in a matter of weeks, and that the Iraqis would be able to finance it with oil sales. We were promised it was not a mission of nation building. But the reality is we're two years in and we've spent more than $200 billion dollars on this venture. And who is paying for all of this? The American taxpayer. The outstanding public debt as of October 3 is almost $8,000,000,000,000 (eight trillion). With a population approaching 300 million, each U.S. citizen's share of this debt is about $27,000. Big government conservatives are spending trillions and wasting billions. Republicans are no longer the party of fiscal conservancy, but the party of runaway spending and corruption. The majority's oversight of the spending in Iraq has been simply disgraceful. The time for accountability is long overdue. It is time to stop handing the president blank checks. Each week in Iraq, the deadly attacks continue, and more of our troops are lost. Our death toll now is past 2,000 Americans. These attacks remind us again of the urgent need to develop a more effective strategy in Iraq--one I and my colleagues on this side of the aisle suggested before we went to war, and one that was disregarded.…”