Date: 2003-10-17
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. we have an opportunity to immediately obtain the help of the international community in sharing the burden and cost of some of our efforts In Iraq. As part of his $87 billion request. President Bush has asked for an additional $600 million to pay for our team of weapons Inspectors in Iraqknown as the Iraq Survey Groupso that they may continue their search for weapons of mass destruction. This team of 1.200 Inspectors. led by David Kay. has searched for WMD in Iraq for many months now. The Presidents request would Increase that team to 1.400 inspectors. I had an amendment prepared would allow us to greatly reduce the costs to the American taxpayer of conducting that search and dramatically increase the credibility of any findings made by the inspectors. The Republican majority refused to allow that amendment to come to a vote. I am pleased that Rep. Tauscher has offered this amendment. It provides for better equipment for our troops and leaves $300 million for our inspection team. We can supplement our team by bring back the U.N. inspectors. The President should immediately Invite the existing team of United Nations inspectorsknown as UNMOVICto participate in the search for WMD in Iraq. The U.N. has a pool of Inspectors who have 12 years of experience investigating Iraqs programs and many of whom speak Arabic. According to its most recent report. UNMOVIC has a roster of 354 trained experts available to serve in Iraq at short notice. This important resource should be put to use. allowing us to reduce the size and costs of our team of inspectors. What would it cost us to engage these trained experts? Nothing. The costs of UNMOVIC are bome by the United Nations and paid for through the dues of the member nations. Engaging the U.N. weapons inspectors in the search for WMD would also get us something that money cant buycredibility. With respect to the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. the Bush Administration has lost its credibility with the American people and has undermined American credibility In the international community. Before the war. our Secretary of State told the United Nations that the Iraqis were attempting to import nuclear weapons material from Africa. The U.N. Inspectors reviewed the evidence and determined the claims were based on forged documents. The U.S. conceded the point and. worse. it turns out that agencies within the U.S. government had already questioned the veracity of the documents. Our Secretary of Defense told the worid that we knew the location of the weapons of mass destruction. We now know that was untrue. In the aftermath of the war. the President claimed that two mobile trailers found in Iraq were evidence of a biological weapons program. Our inspection team has recently had to retreat from that claim. Again and again. Administration officials from the President on down have made false claims about Iraqi WMD. Even the Economist magazine. which had been a booster of the war. has stated that the Bush Administration Is seen around the worid as having its own arsenal of WMDWielders of Mass Deception. The only way to restore confidence in the .search for WMD is to bring in an impartial team of Intemational Inspectors. David Kay. the leader of our team. is stuck in a fundamental contradiction. He wears two hats. serving as both fact finder and salesman for the Administration. No matter how high his personal integrity. this dual role undermines the credibility of any findings his team may make. It is critical to the integrity of the process that Independent U.N. weapons inspectors be invited to participate in the search and given the opportunity to independently evaluate any claims made by David Kay and the Iraq Survey Group. The American people should not be asked to spend an additional $600 million to fund a search that is widely perceived to be an effort to provide cover for an Administration that has lost Its credibility on this issue at home and abroad.