Date: 2004-03-02
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I was deeply disturbed last week when I read that the Speaker of the House may use his authority and his power in the House not to extend the investigation into what happened before 9/11. what it is we did that was right and what it is we did that was wrong. what it is we knew and what it is we did not know that led to the tragedy of the World Trade Center and the tragic loss of life there and the largest terrorist attack against this Nation on this soil. I was deeply disturbed that somehow the investigation into that would be curtailed. that the commission would not be given the time that it believed professionally was necessary to arrive at those answers. when I think about the families and how important those answers are as. to what were the real circumstances under which their family members died and perished in the World Trade Center. I was deeply disturbed that the President said that he would only talk with two members of the commission. that there apparently is a concerted effort to take those members of the commission that appeared to be the most intent on getting to the bottom of these issues and these questions on behalf of our Nation and on behalf of our security and on behalf of the families. that they would not be allowed to talk with the President. to interview them. that they would not be allowed to share their notes. those who got in to see the President. It is very troubling because the image of 9/11 and the tragedy of 9/11 is absolutely seared in the mind of every American. those images and that tragedy. And forus to suggest that in any fashion this commissions work would be curtailed. not be given the time or the documents necessary. this is a matter of our national security so that it will never ever happen again. This cannot be about people in various agencies of the United States Government covering their tail because of something they did or did not do that may have helped us detect that act before it happened or have us understand what we need to do in the future. As I see that effort by the administration to curtail this. and now apparently it is going to go forward. they are going to get the 2 months. I am also deeply concerned that I see the administration involved in some dramatic rewriting of history. When David Kay came back from his search for the weapons of mass destruction. in his meetings with the House and the Senate he told the American public and these two bodies that we all had it wrong. I am not sure that is quite accurate. because there in fact is a whole body of evidence that has been developed within the Intelligence Community. within the international Intelligence Community. within the State Department. and elsewhere that was present at the time suggesting that in fact maybe many of the reasons and the conditions in which this administration said we are going to war did not exist. They certainly did not exist in the clarity that the administration presented them to the Congress or to the American people or to the international community. And now it appears that the President is trying to say because he got it wrong everybody had it wrong. That is just not the case. That is just not the case. And yet we now have commissions to look into that matter. Tragically. this administration again is trying to curtail what those commissions can look at and not look at. The Senate may be allowed to look at one piece of evidence but not other pieces of evidence. The House may or may not have access. And then the President has his own commission which is supposed to investigate the administration but has been appointed by the administration. A little bit of a conflict of interest there. But these commissions are important. and these questions are important because. again. it goes to our national security. And there is another set of families. just as there are the 9/11 families and those communities that suffer that tragic loss of those thousands of individuals. there is another set of families of those who have been sent off to fight in Iraq. over 500 that have been killed. thousands that have. been wounded. so many that we have visited that are multiple amputees. that have lost their arms. lost their legs. lost the sight of one eye. that their life is changed forever. They are entitled to the answers and understanding how is it that this decision was set forth to go into Iraq when in fact we see substantial evidence suggesting. and as said by the CIA Director. "We never said this was an imminent threat." The President wants to suggest that if we make that the test. the real threat against the United States. before we commit the lives of young men and women in this country. that somehow the only other option is it will surprise us. No. that is not the test. Mr. Speaker. but we will have more on this. But I thinkthe American public ought to start to consider the level of interference that is being engaged in by this administration to keep. these commissions. both congressional and civilian commissions. from getting to the bottom. to the real answers that are directly related to the future security of this Nation.