[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Sen. Byrd on the Emperor's New Clothes

[Ken Urban]

I made a tri-fold of this for distribution.  

I like that he defends 'Those who have noticed the elephant in the
room'.  My partner and I like to use a similar metaphor from a
definition of a dysfunctional family as when no one talks about the lump
of shit in the middle of the room.  Our government and press are quite
disfunctional aren't they.

Ken

>>> Morton K.Brussel <brussel4 at insightbb.com> 10/21/2003 10:54:13 AM
>>>
A voice in the wilderness of the Senate?

MKB

Begin forwarded message:

> From: George Stanford <gstanford at aya.yale.edu>
> Date: Mon Oct 20, 2003  22:42:19 US/Central
> To: pbenioff at anl.gov, lgaines at anl.gov, klerner at anl.gov, 
> lipkin at hep.anl.gov, nkmeshkov at earthlink.net, rpalm32 at yahoo.com, 
> OXENKNEC at Danavictor.com, sveh at megsinet.net, 
> henry.bradford at ns.sympatico.ca, docsross at nbnet.nb.ca, 
> rsircom at chebucto.ns.ca, pstpierre at telus.net, stackd at globalnet.co.uk,

> eblock at da.org, brussel at uiuc.edu, lakme at walkingstick.org, 
> jbkennedy at braveturtle.com, lach at fnal.gov, palmore at uiuc.edu, 
> ja_wenger at msn.com, gershon at walkingstick.org, n-zide at uchicago.edu 
> Subject: Sen. Byrd on the Emperor's New Clothes
>
>
> Courtesy of Jerry Marsh
>
> Senate Floor Remarks
> by U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd
> on Final Passage of Iraq Supplemental Appropriations Bill
> Friday 17 October 2003
>
> 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. Mr.
> President, 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.
>
> Mr. President, 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.
>
> Mr. President, 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.
>
> Mr. President, 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."