Jay Inslee: “And, Mr. Speaker, if my colleague will yield, another thing that cannot stand is this administration essentially sort of…”

“And, Mr. Speaker, if my colleague will yield, another thing that cannot stand is this administration essentially sort of pooh-poohing the enormity of this disaster of relying on Mr. Chalabi. There are two groups that have suggested it is of no consequence, one of which is Mr. Chalabi. He was interviewed in a major newspaper sometime ago and the article said ``an Iraqi leader accused of feeding faulty pre-war intelligence to Washington,'' and that is Mr. Chalabi, ``said yesterday his information about Saddam Hussein's weapons, even if discredited,'' meaning wrong, meaning false, ``had achieved the aim of persuading America to start a war.'' Mr. Chalabi has just kind of laughed off the fact that his false information caused America to start a war in which over 700 Americans have died. To him, that is okay because he described himself as a ``hero in error.'' Hero in error? Here is a man who took $40 million of taxpayers' money, gave us apparently willfully, according to Colin Powell, Colin Powell says willfully deceptive information, and started a war in which 700 Americans have died, in which thousands have been terribly wounded; and he describes himself as a hero. Well, he is no kind of hero in this Chamber or in my district or any district in this country. But he, apparently, is still on some kind of a little bit of a working relationship with the Bush administration.”