Previous Statements on Iraq
In the spring of 2003, the President pushed us into war with Iraq. This decision was not based on a proven threat, but rather on a sustained campaign to exaggerate both Saddam’s weapons capabilities and his supposed links to al Qaeda. Since the war, evidence has steadily piled up that both these facts were based on little more than the President’s wishful thinking.
To date, Congress has appropriated approximately $150 billion to the war and reconstruction of Iraq. Meanwhile, the United States continues to attempt to secure a meaningful peace in Iraq in an environment that grows increasingly hostile. With each new counterinsurgency and terrorist strike against innocent Iraqi civilians, we alienate more and more Iraqis. It is clear that the answers lie in a more concerted effort to share the burden of Iraqi reconstruction with the international community. Instead, the President prefers to alienate potential allies to “punish” them for their failure to buy into his pre-war campaign of deception. This is foolhardy and dangerous.
The President doggedly pursued a war under highly questionable pretenses that has alienated many of our allies around the world. The threat of Saddam has been eradicated. But the threat of al Qaeda, never a real factor in pre-war Iraq, has grown. Most dangerously, the President-- through his obstinance, deceptions and dismissal of world opinion–has lowered the international community’s perception of the U.S. to the point where many view it as a principal threat to world peace.
The search for Osama Bin Laden, our fight against al Qaeda, and our nation’s commitment to rebuild Afghanistan have been overshadowed by our involvement in Iraq, a country that I am not convinced posed an imminent threat to the United States before the war began. While all Americans I have spoken to cheer the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, his defeat has not weakened al Qaeda, and has not brought us closer to defeating the authors of 9/11.
Posted March 23, 2004
- September 23, 2004: CONGRESSWOMAN WATSON REACTS TO PRIME MINISTER ALLAWI’S STATEMENT BEFORE JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
- May 6, 2004: REPRESENTATIVE WATSON CALLS ON RUMSFELD & WOLFOWITZ TO STEP DOWN
- March 21, 2003: REP. WATSON SUPPORTS OUR TROOPS, OPPOSES REPUBLICANS PLAYING POLITICS WITH WAR
- March 20, 2003: CONGRESSWOMAN WATSON REACTS TO U.S. ATTACK ON IRAQ
- March 18, 2003: CONGRESSWOMAN DIANE E. WATSON RESPONDS TO PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS ON IRAQ
- March 1, 2003: War in Iraq: March 2003
- February 6, 2003: WATSON STATEMENT ON SECRETARY POWELL’S SPEECH AT THE UNITED NATIONS
- January 29, 2003: REP. WATSON RESPONDS TO BUSH STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
- October 9, 2002: CONGRESSWOMAN DIANE E. WATSON OPPOSES CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING MILITARY FORCE IN IRAQ
- September 26, 2002: REP. WATSON WARNS CONGRESS ABOUT PRESIDENT’S USE OF FORCE RESOLUTION AGAINST IRAQ
back to "On the Issues"
back to top
