Senate Proceeding 09-06-06 on Sep 6th, 2006 :: 3:20:58 to 3:31:43
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3:19:48 to 3:20:58( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Richard Durbin

3:20:36 to 3:20:58( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: consent on the democratic side. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, the unanimous consent is agreed to. the senator from new york. is recognized for ten minutes. mrs. clinton:

3:20:58 to 3:21:22( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: mr. president, thank you. mr. president, we are here debate ing this resolution for two simple reasons. first, no matter how the lily is gilded, things are not going well in our war against terrorism.

3:20:58 to 3:31:43( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Hillary Clinton

3:21:22 to 3:21:40( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: and there is no doubt that we need new leadership. secondly, this congress has abdicate ed its constitutional responsibility to conduct over oversight and hold the administration accountable for the decisions

3:21:40 to 3:21:56( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: which it has made over the course of the last five years. this is quite unusual in american history because ordinarily the congress would play that role of check and balance, you know, in the middle

3:21:56 to 3:22:16( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: of world war tr world war ii, which truly was a world war, then-senator harry truman was the chair of a commission looking into war profiteering and other matters relate ed to the conduct of the war. there was

3:22:16 to 3:22:31( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: a democratic congress, a democratic president, and yet the congress, under then-senator truman's leadership, fulfilled its responsibility. during the vietnam war, which ripped this country apart, senator

3:22:31 to 3:22:51( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: if you will bright felt fulbright felt compelled to hold hearings about the conduct of that war. a democratic congress, a democratic president, fulfilling its responsibility. well, we've seen none

3:22:51 to 3:23:09( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: of that with very few exceptions. this congress has been either intimidate ed or negligent in the fulfillment of its responsibilities to hold the administration accountable. you no, absolute power not

3:23:09 to 3:23:23( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: only corrupts but it can lead to bad decisions. and this has been a very small group of decision-makers. you no, recently the president changed the leadership of his economic team because we all know@

3:23:23 to 3:23:39( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: the economy is not doing as well as tiedz. profits are up, productivity is up, but average wages and income aren't. and it's getting harder and harder for the average american to make ends meet. so the president

3:23:39 to 3:23:55( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: getting harder for the average American to make ends meat. the president changed his economic leadership, change ed his chief of staff in the white house, and yet there is no accountability with respect to his security team.

3:23:55 to 3:24:16( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: i've just returned, like my colleagues, from our recess, and i visited throughout my state, and in every kind of community people are expressing deep concerns about the direction we are heading when this comes to the war in iraq.

3:24:13 to 3:24:26( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: it comes to american security interests. new yorkers, as most americans, want things set right in iraq when so much both has gone wrong and seems to continue to go wrong. and so what we're asking for is some

3:24:26 to 3:24:40( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: accountability. now, there is no illusion on this side of the aisle that this resolution will pass. we know it won't. we may not even get a vote on it because, heaven forbid, the other side would have

3:24:40 to 3:24:57( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: to stand up and actually vote. we know that many on the other side share our doubts. privately, they will say some of the most harsh and critical comments about the secretary of defense, about the

3:24:57 to 3:25:20( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: president, about the vice president and the conduct of this war. but they abdicate their responsibility in public. so we have no illusions we are going to get a vote on this. and yet we owe it

3:25:20 to 3:25:40( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: to ourselves, our troops, our fellow citizens to raise these issues. one doesn't have to read the recently published book "fiasco" or the book before it "cobra ii" to see how badly things have gone.

3:25:40 to 3:25:54( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: we know that. and at the center of so many of the wrong calls, the misjudgment misjudgments, the strategic blunders, has been the secretary of defense. no one is questioning his patriotism, his honorable

3:25:54 to 3:26:12( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: service. we're ing questioning his judgment -- we're questioning his judgment and his leadership. we went to war with the secretary of defense we had. now it is time to complete the mission with a

3:26:12 to 3:26:31( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: new secretary of defense that we need. it is past time. and our friends on the other side will come forward and make the most impassioned arguments about how things are going and how we have to stay the

3:26:31 to 3:26:54( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: course and what has to be done in order to succeed, but under secretary rumsfeld's leadership, it has not happened. we have a full-fledged insurgency and full-blown sectarian conflict in iraq. i don't care

3:26:54 to 3:27:13( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: what you label it -- civil war, sectarian violence -- the fact is, the iraqis are losing hundreds and hundreds of lives and as of yesterday 2,652 servicemen and women have been killed in iraq. amongst them,

3:27:13 to 3:27:26( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: 123 new yorkers. we didn't go with enough troops troops to establish law and order, to put down a marker as to our authority as we replace ed an authoritarian dictatorship. we went with this dysfunctional

3:27:26 to 3:27:41( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: bureaucracy known as the coalition provisional authority, which disbanded the iraqi army, which we're now trying to re-create. secretary rumsfeld rejected virtually all of the planning that had been done

3:27:41 to 3:27:58( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: previously to maintain stability when the regime was overthrown, and he deliberately and repeatedly underestimate ed the nature and strength of the insurgency, the sectarian violence and the spread

3:27:58 to 3:28:16( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: of iranian influence. let us not confuse the leadership's failures with either the remaining mission in iraq or the war on terrorism or with our support for our troops. what we have here is a failure

3:28:16 to 3:28:30( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: of leadership to accomplish that mission. what was hailed as our shortest war has now become one of our longest. what was hailed as a model of democracy teeters on the brink of complete anarchy.

3:28:30 to 3:28:49( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: what was the leadership that quickly claimed credit for success has been lethargic in the face of misjudgments and set setbacks. i don't see what other conclusion one can draw.~ you know, we will

3:28:49 to 3:29:09( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: have the some president and vice president for the next two years, but why not ask the president to exercise his judgment to bring in new leadership to send a new signal to our troops, to our military

3:29:09 to 3:29:25( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: leadership, to our friends and our allies and to our country that, guess what, we get it? we need new leadership. when i confronted secretary rumsfeld a month ago, he continued to ofiscate and deny

3:29:25 to 3:29:35( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: responsibility. he denied he ever painted a rosie picture in iraq. in response, my office complied a list of 13 statements out of many that he had made which clearly painted a rosie rosy scenario. i

3:29:35 to 3:29:54( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: ask unanimous consent that those statements be included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. clinton: it is time for the united states senate to exercise our responsibility for

3:29:54 to 3:30:15( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: the members of this chamber to decide what do we owe our constituents, our young men and women in uniform? what do we owe history in terms of our responsibility? we know the answer whether we stand up and

3:30:15 to 3:30:30( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: deny it or not, we know the answer. history is going to judge this period hash harshly. i wish that we could as a body redeem ourselves and redeem this mission, give it a chance for success with new eyes

3:30:30 to 3:30:51( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: and ears, with new way of thinking and leading. i have in idea who the president might ask to replace the secretary were he to be asked to leave or resign. but i have to believe that some fresh thinking,

3:30:51 to 3:31:11( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: some new ideas would make a difference. it is time that we put our policy, our chance for success ahead of politics, that we put wise decision making and new leadership ahead of the status quo. when

3:31:11 to 3:31:23( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: it's not working, why do we keep digging a deeper hole? so, mr. president, i would hope that this body would exercise responsibility. and the only way open to us since we cannot have the oversight and

3:31:23 to 3:31:43( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: accountability that the congress should be demanding. thank you, mr. president. ms. mikulski: mr. president mr. president, does the distinguished senator from alaska, the chairman of the subcommittee

3:31:43 to 3:31:51( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: on defense appropriations wish to speak? mr. stevens: senator inhofe is coming. ms. mikulski: while we're waiting, my remarks are five minutes. may i proceed? mr. stevens: yes, yes, you may. ms. mikulski:

3:31:43 to 3:39:24( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Barbara Mikulski