There should be a national outcry and national demand that the Senate
Intelligence Committee immediately release the full text of its latest
report, now being covered up until after the election, about whether and
when false
statements were made by Administration
officials regarding pre-war Iraq intelligence.
Every Republican Senator now running for reelection should be challenged
in their
hometown newspapers and in public meetings, and should be opposed in
November if they support the continued cover-up in light of this latest
bombshell from the National Intelligence Estimate.
Every Republican running for reelection in the House should be defeated
unless they publicly demand that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth be told to the American people NOW, by both Intelligence
Committees.
The enormous implication of the National Intelligence Estimate recently
leaked boils down to this: because of the extreme and deadly
consequences of the Iraq War,
President Bush is losing the war against terror.
It is the consensus opinion of our intelligence services that because of
the Iraq war, the danger from terrorism has risen during the Bush years
and the world and our communities are less safe.
It is the consensus opinion of our intelligence services that because of
the Iraq War, the number of terrorists has increased during the Bush
years.
It is the consensus opinion of our intelligence services that because of
the Iraq War, the increasing number of terrorists during the Bush years
will be harder than ever to catch, because they are springing up
spontaneously, in smaller groups in more locations. resulting in large
measure from world-wide outrage and popular discontent toward the failed
policies.
And: before Congress votes on torture again,
there should be full public release and public hearings about the
whether our intelligence community believes that torture practices, Abu
Ghraib and Guantanamo increase the
number of terrorists and the dangers which, I propose, in fact, they do.
It does not matter that the Bush Administration spends hundreds of
millions of dollars on public relations and psy-war, when every day
major stories on world-wide television anger large majorities of world
opinion, and overwhelming
majorities of young men and women throughout the Middle East, who were
not born as terrorists and have no natural reason to support the
terrorist cause.
It does no service to our security or the truth that the President gives
two weeks of major speeches claiming, falsely, that his Iraq war makes
us more safe, when he knew, that his own intelligence assessment says
the literal exact opposite; that his policy in Iraq creates more
terrorists and more dangers.
What is happening now, ladies and gentlemen, is that on a wide range of
issues tied to the grave mistakes of this war there is enormous,
widespread disagreement from our military commanders about the direction
and course of this policy, and from our intelligence leaders and
personnel, who flat-out believe that this war is hurting our security,
our country, and our war against terrorism.
In our America, it is the truth that sets us free.
It is high time, and long overdue, that our government tell the truth to
our people, and the truth is, that this policy has made our country less
safe, less secure, less strong, less respected in the world, and that
the greatest winners in this war are the terrorist recruiters and the
politicians in Washington who try to exploit a war, for political gain,
that hurts our troops, and as suggested by our intelligence services,
helps our enemy.