Remarks of the Vice President

REMARKS OF THE VICE PRESIDENT -- (Senate - January 25, 2007)

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, there was an interview between Wolf Blitzer and the President of the United States that was aired this morning on the news. Some of the statements that were made by the Vice President are very difficult to understand. When he was asked about Iraq, Vice President Cheney said:

Bottom line is that we've had enormous successes and we will continue to have enormous successes.

It is interesting that the Vice President would make this statement barely a week after the President of the United States announced that we are facing a slow failure in Iraq. The President sees a slow failure; the Vice President sees enormous successes.

This is not the first time the Vice President has made statements which defy reality. We can all recall the statements made by him and many others in the administration suggesting the presence of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, suggesting a connection somehow between Saddam Hussein and the tragedy of 9/11. It turns out that in each and every instance the Vice President was wrong.

We can also remember that in June of 2005 when we were facing one of the bloodiest, deadliest periods in Iraq, Vice President Cheney said:

The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they're in their last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.

Another quote from the Vice President which was not in touch with the reality of the war in Iraq.

We have had that from the beginning. Whether it was the Vice President's suggestion--this comes from March 16, 2003:

Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.

I will concede the Vice President later admitted he was wrong in making that statement.

The point I am making is this: If the current Secretary of Defense concedes to our Armed Services Committee that we are not winning this war, if the Baker-Hamilton bipartisan study group comes forward and says the situation is grave and deteriorating, if the President says our continued course of action is a slow failure, one has to wonder where the Vice President is receiving his information.

Earlier this morning, I said that he was delusional when it came to this issue. To be delusional is to be out of touch with reality. And I believe the Vice President has been out of touch with reality when he makes comments such as that.

At the least, the American people expect an honest answer about the situation in Iraq. I think what the President has said about a slow failure is an honest appraisal. I think what the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Gates, said about not winning this war is an honest appraisal. I think the findings of the Baker-Hamilton bipartisan study group that the situation is grave and deteriorating is an honest appraisal of reality.

This much I will say: The real success in Iraq, if we can point to it, is the fact that our brave men and women in uniform have done such a remarkable job. They have faced extraordinary responsibilities and assignments. They came to Iraq, invaded it, deposed that dictator, found him in a hole in the ground and brought him to trial, and gave the Iraqi people a chance for free elections and a chance to write their own Constitution. Those successes which did occur were the result of great determination by our troops in uniform and many brave Iraqis who stepped forward and risked their lives to move their nation forward.

But we all know the situation today. As of this morning, we have lost 3,057 American soldiers. We know that over 23,000 have returned from Iraq with injuries, almost 7,000 with serious injuries--amputations, blindness, serious burns, traumatic brain injury. Those are the realities of what we face.

We also know that the situation on the ground in Iraq is very difficult for most people to understand. When the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mr. Maliki, says to the President: We don't need additional troops, and the President says we are sending them anyway, when the generals in the field say that if America continues to send troops, the Iraqis won't accept the responsibility of defending their country and the administration says we are going to send troops anyway, I think that is evidence that this administration's policy is not connected to the reality of what is on the ground in Iraq. And certainly for the Vice President to characterize that sad and tragic situation in Iraq today as an enormous success is not in touch with the reality of what our soldiers face and our country faces.

Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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