July 22, 2004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S8581 lasting democratic independence. Nev- I yield the floor. record straight about his view of the ertheless, we still have work to do. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. TAL- President’s State of the Union speech. The Senate Select Committee on In- ENT). Who seeks recognition? In the name of fairness, I sure hope he telligence report on Iraq’s weapons of Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I will. mass destruction clearly identified rise to make remarks today on two im- Not to be outdone, the Senior Sen- what we have all known for some time, portant subjects with which we are ator from Massachusetts, Senator KEN- our intelligence has not performed in currently dealing in the Congress. NEDY, delivered an attack on the Bush as desirable a way as we would like and The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- administration this January. Senator in some cases has raised some issues ator from Kentucky. KENNEDY repeated Wilson’s distortions, about some of the decisions we had to f and claimed: make in this Congress. SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT The gross abuse of intelligence was on full As a former member of the Senate In- display in the president’s State of the Union telligence Committee, I say to my col- Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, address last January, when he spoke the now leagues that few employees in the Fed- ‘‘Did the Bush administration manipu- infamous 16 words. And as we all know eral Government are as dedicated as late intelligence about Saddam Hus- now, that allegation was false. President those who work for our intelligence sein’s weapons program to justify an Bush and his advisers should have presented agencies. They are hard-working indi- invasion of Iraq?’’ This is the central their case honestly. viduals who believe their work is crit- question posed by discredited Ambas- When will Senator KENNEDY acknowl- ical to our Nation’s national security, sador Joe Wilson in his July 6, 2003, op- edge that the President’s claim was and they provide us good information. ed published by the New York Times. ‘‘well founded?’’ The junior Senator As policymakers, we also have to rec- Wilson alleged the answer to the from Massachusetts has also accused ognize the information they give us is question was ‘‘yes’’, and a political the President of misleading the coun- not always absolute. A lot of time it is firestorm ensued. Indeed, the year-long try. An Associated Press report from a little bit of information here, a little furor over the infamous 16 words 2003 includes an exchange between Sen- bit of information there, and we have stemmed from Mr. Wilson’s disproved ator KERRY and a woman on the cam- to put it together and say this is a claims. paign trail. Here is how it went. likely event that is going to happen or Many of the President’s fiercest crit- When a woman asked whether U.S. intel- this is likely what is happening. It is ics have since argued the Bush admin- ligence on Iraq was doctored, Kerry replies not absolute in many regards, and we istration misled the country into war, that Americans were ‘‘clearly misled’’ on a truly incendiary charge. two specific pieces of intelligence. ‘‘I will not have to treat it that way. let him off the hook throughout this cam- I think that is the way the President Lord Butler’s comprehensive report paign with respect to America’s credibility treated it, and I think that is the way includes the real 16-word statement we ... the Congress has looked at much of the should focus on. Here is what he had to That is the junior Senator from Mas- information that we received right say: sachusetts. Let me quote another AP after 9/11 and how terrorism is affect- We conclude that the statement in Presi- report about Senator KERRY from last ing us. That is why it was so frus- dent Bush’s State of the Union address . summer: trating to learn our intelligence agen- is well founded. Kerry said Bush made his case for war cies did not connect many of the dots It is well founded. Yet the New York based on U.S. intelligence that now appear in regard to September 11 and again Times threw its hat into the ring early to be wrong—that Iraq sought nuclear mate- failed to provide reliable information and ran an editorial on July 12, 2003 rial from Africa. on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction amplifying Wilson’s irresponsible claim Now that Joe Wilson’s claims have programs. and flaming the fires of this pseudo- been completely discredited, the junior We clearly have a considerable scandal. This is what they had to say: Senator from Massachusetts has a amount of work to do. As the Senate Now the American people need to know chance to set the record straight. But Intelligence Committee recommended, how the accusation got into the speech in will he? we need to improve the process by the first place, and whether it was put there I mentioned yesterday the distin- which analysts, collectors, and man- with an intent to deceive the nation. The guished Minority Leader had repeated White House has a lot of explaining to do. agers fuse intelligence and produce Joe Wilson’s discredited claims on the judgments for policymakers, but that Will the New York Times, which Senate Floor. Just last month, Senator is not new. We have been facing this printed 70 stories that repeated Joe DASCHLE said: problem for some time. I am glad we Wilson’s claims, now retract this edi- Sunlight, it’s been said, is the best dis- are taking it more seriously. We need torial? Will it acknowledge on the edi- infectant. But for too long, the administra- to greatly enhance almost every aspect torial page the truth about Joe Wilson? tion has been able to keep Congress and the of the intelligence community’s human Rather than displaying caution and American people in the dark . serious intelligence efforts. We need to address restraint, too many American politi- matters, such as the manipulation of intel- the tendency to build upon the judg- cians raced, like the New York Times, ligence about Iraq, have received only fitful ments of previous assessments without to echo this outrageous allegation. attention. including the uncertainties in those as- Early into the fray was the senior The bipartisan Senate Intelligence sessments. Senator from North Carolina. On July Report reached the following conclu- I will note the Senate Intelligence 22, 2003, Fox News played a clip from sions that directly refute the serious Committee’s report did conclude that one of Senator EDWARDS’ rallies in charges made by the President’s crit- the intelligence community’s judg- which he repeats Wilson’s attacks on ics: ments regarding Saddam Hussein’s the President’s honesty. Senator ED- Conclusion 83. The Committee did not find government’s link to terrorist organi- WARDS claims: any evidence that Administration officials zations were reasonable. Equally im- Nothing is more important than the credi- attempted to coerce, influence, or pressure portant was the Senate Intelligence bility of the president of the United States analysts to change their judgments related Committee’s conclusion that the exag- and the words that come out of his mouth at to Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction capa- geration of the intelligence on Iraq’s the State of the Union are, in fact, the re- bilities. sponsibility of the president. Conclusion 84. The Committee found no weapons of mass destruction capabili- evidence that the Vice President’s visits to ties was not the result of political pres- According to the correspondent at the CIA were attempts to pressure analysts, sure. the rally: were perceived as intended to pressure ana- As we prepare for the 9/11 Commis- Edwards blasted the president’s 16-word lysts by those who participated in the brief- sion’s report, I think it is appropriate State of the Union sentence on British intel- ings on Iraq’s WMD programs, or did pres- that we thank the people who served ligence information that Iraq sought nuclear sure analysts to change their assessments. on the Commission for their service to weapons material from Africa. Let us not allow honesty to become a this country. Their service will go a Now a candidate for the Vice Presi- casualty of the campaign season. long way to helping our Nation prevent dency, Senator EDWARDS will have My colleagues now have an oppor- future attacks. many media opportunities to set the tunity—and I am sure they will take VerDate jul 14 2003 03:15 Jul 23, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G22JY6.006 S22PT1 S8582 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 22, 2004 it—to set the record straight about Ohio—nor their Senators—were any ‘‘a caseload that is excessive by any stand- their support of Mr. Wilson’s out- part of it. ard.’’ Judge Merritt also wrote that the rageous claims. In the name of fair- They are all suffering for it, though, court was ‘‘rapidly deteriorating, under- staffed and unable to properly carry out ness, will they? as are the 10 million people from their responsibilities’’; and f Michigan. Whereas, Decisions from the Sixth Circuit The Michigan legislature has in fact are slower in coming, based on less careful NOMINATIONS TO THE SIXTH passed a resolution calling on us, the deliberation, and, as a result, are less likely CIRCUIT COURT U.S.