Hon. Joseph M. Hoeffel: “It seems to me that what Congress ought to be pushing the administration to focus on in our efforts to create liberty is…”

I wanted to respond to a couple things the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) said. I think he said that we were suggesting George Bush has been asleep at the switch in Iraq. That is not at all what we have been suggesting here. President…

But, Mr. Speaker, I must tell my colleague that not everybody was being conned. The CIA saw through Chalabi, the State Department saw through Chalabi, and yet the civilian leadership of the Pentagon did not.

Do not forget that the President sat Mr. Chalabi right behind Mrs. Bush in this year's State of the Union address, right up there in that balcony 4 rac{1}{2} months ago. There he sat in all his double-chinned glory, Ahmad Chalabi, directly…

The favorite of the State Department is Adnan Pachachi, who is another member of the current interim government in Iraq as Chalabi is. And, according to Roll Call, the favorite of the CIA is Ayad Allawi, also a member of the Iraqi…