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Remarks by U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd
October 17, 2003
The Emperor Has No Clothes

In 1837, Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen, wrote a wonderful
fairy tale which
he titled The Emperor's New Clothes. It may be the very first example
of the power
of political correctness. It is the story of the Ruler of a distant
land who was so
enamored of his appearance and his clothing that he had a different
suit for every
hour of the day.

One day two rogues arrived in town, claiming to be gifted weavers.
They convinced
the Emperor that they could weave the most wonderful cloth, which had a
magical
property. The clothes were only visible to those who were completely
pure in heart
and spirit.

The Emperor was impressed and ordered the weavers to begin work
immediately.
The rogues, who had a deep understanding of human nature, began to
feign work
on empty looms.

Minister after minister went to view the new clothes and all came back
exhorting the
beauty of the cloth on the looms even though none of them could see a
thing.

Finally a grand procession was planned for the Emperor to display his
new finery.
The Emperor went to view his clothes and was shocked to see absolutely
nothing,
but he pretended to admire the fabulous cloth, inspect the clothes with
awe, and,
after disrobing, go through the motions of carefully putting on a suit
of the new
garments.

Under a royal canopy the Emperor appeared to the admiring throng of his
people - -
all of whom cheered and clapped because they all knew the rogue
weavers' tale
and did not want to be seen as less than pure of heart.

But, the bubble burst when an innocent child loudly exclaimed, for the
whole
kingdom to hear, that the Emperor had nothing on at all. He had no
clothes.

That tale seems to me very like the way this nation was led to war.

We were told that we were threatened by weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq, but
they have not been seen.

We were told that the throngs of Iraqi's would welcome our troops with
flowers, but
no throngs or flowers appeared.

We were led to believe that Saddam Hussein was connected to the attack
on the
Twin Towers and the Pentagon, but no evidence has ever been produced.

We were told in 16 words that Saddam Hussein tried to buy "yellow cake"
from
Africa for production of nuclear weapons, but the story has turned into
empty air.

We were frightened with visions of mushroom clouds, but they turned out
to be only
vapors of the mind.

We were told that major combat was over but 101 [as of October 17]
Americans
have died in combat since that proclamation from the deck of an
aircraft carrier by
our very own Emperor in his new clothes.

Our emperor says that we are not occupiers, yet we show no inclination
to relinquish
the country of Iraq to its people.

Those who have dared to expose the nakedness of the Administration's
policies in
Iraq have been subjected to scorn. Those who have noticed the elephant
in the
room -- that is, the fact that this war was based on falsehoods ? have
had our
patriotism questioned. Those who have spoken aloud the thought shared
by
hundreds of thousands of military families across this country, that
our troops should
return quickly and safely from the dangers half a world away, have been
accused of
cowardice. We have then seen the untruths, the dissembling, the
fabrication, the
misleading inferences surrounding this rush to war in Iraq wrapped
quickly in the
flag.

The right to ask questions, debate, and dissent is under attack. The
drums of war
are beaten ever louder in an attempt to drown out those who speak of
our
predicament in stark terms.

Even in the Senate, our history and tradition of being the world's
greatest
deliberative body is being snubbed. This huge spending bill has been
rushed
through this chamber in just one month. There were just three open
hearings by
the Senate Appropriations Committee on $87 billion, without a single
outside witness
called to challenge the Administration's line.

Ambassador Bremer went so far as to refuse to return to the
Appropriations
Committee to answer additional questions because, and I quote: "I don't
have time.
I'm completely booked, and I have to get back to Baghdad to my duties."

Despite this callous stiff-arm of the Senate and its duties to ask
questions in order to
represent the American people, few dared to voice their opposition to
rushing this
bill through these halls of Congress. Perhaps they were intimidated by
the false
claims that our troops are in immediate need of more funds.

But the time has come for the sheep-like political correctness which
has cowed
members of this Senate to come to an end.

The Emperor has no clothes. This entire adventure in Iraq has been
based on
propaganda and manipulation. Eighty-seven billion dollars is too much
to pay for
the continuation of a war based on falsehoods.

Taking the nation to war based on misleading rhetoric and hyped
intelligence is a
travesty and a tragedy. It is the most cynical of all cynical acts.
It is dangerous to
manipulate the truth. It is dangerous because once having lied, it is
difficult to ever
be believed again. Having misled the American people and stampeded
them to
war, this Administration must now attempt to sustain a policy
predicated on
falsehoods. The President asks for billions from those same citizens
who know that
they were misled about the need to go to war. We misinformed and
insulted our
friends and allies and now this Administration is having more than a
little trouble
getting help from the international community. It is perilous to
mislead.

The single-minded obsession of this Administration to now make sense of
the chaos
in Iraq, and the continuing propaganda which emanates from the White
House
painting Iraq as the geographical center of terrorism is distracting
our attention from
Afghanistan and the 60 other countries in the world where terrorists
hide. It is
sapping resources which could be used to make us safer from terrorists
on our own
shores. The body armor for our own citizens still has many, many
chinks. Have we
forgotten that the most horrific terror attacks in history occurred
right here at home!!
Yet, this Administration turns back money for homeland security, while
the President
pours billions into security for Iraq. I am powerless to understand or
explain such a
policy.

I have tried mightily to improve this bill. I twice tried to separate
the reconstruction
money in this bill, so that those dollars could be considered
separately from the
military spending. I offered an amendment to force the Administration
to craft a plan
to get other nations to assist the troops and formulate a plan to get
the U.N. in, and
the U.S. out, of Iraq. Twice I tried to rid the bill of expansive,
flexible authorities that
turn this $87 billion into a blank check. The American people should
understand
that we provide more foreign aid for Iraq in this bill, $20.3 billion,
than we provide for
the rest of the entire world! I attempted to remove from this bill
billions in wasteful
programs and divert those funds to better use. But, at every turn, my
efforts were
thwarted by the vapid argument that we must all support the requests of
the
Commander in Chief.

I cannot stand by and continue to watch our grandchildren become
increasingly
burdened by the billions that fly out of the Treasury for a war and a
policy based
largely on propaganda and prevarication. We are borrowing $87 billion
to finance
this adventure in Iraq. The President is asking this Senate to pay for
this war with
increased debt, a debt that will have to be paid by our children and by
those same
troops that are currently fighting this war. I cannot support
outlandish tax cuts that
plunge our country into potentially disastrous debt while our troops
are fighting and
dying in a war that the White House chose to begin.

I cannot support the continuation of a policy that unwisely ties down
150,000
American troops for the foreseeable future, with no end in sight.

I cannot support a President who refuses to authorize the reasonable
change in
course that would bring traditional allies to our side in Iraq.

I cannot support the politics of zeal and "might makes right" that
created the new
American arrogance and unilateralism which passes for foreign policy in
this
Administration.

I cannot support this foolish manifestation of the dangerous and
destabilizing
doctrine of preemption that changes the image of America into that of a
reckless
bully.

The emperor has no clothes. And our former allies around the world
were the first
to loudly observe it.

I shall vote against this bill because I cannot support a policy based
on
prevarication. I cannot support doling out 87 billion of our
hard-earned tax dollars
when I have so many doubts about the wisdom of its use.

I began my remarks with a fairy tale. I shall close my remarks with a
horror story, in
the form of a quote from the book Nuremberg Diaries, written by G.M.
Gilbert, in
which the author interviews Hermann Goering.

"We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to
his attitude, I
did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who
bring them
war and destruction.

". . . But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine
the policy and it is
always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a
democracy or a
fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people
have some say
in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United
States only
Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can
always be
brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do
is tell them
they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of
patriotism and
exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
-- -Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU 88.9 FM WED 8-9PM PST

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