From the Library of Congress:
IRAQ WATCH -- (House of Representatives - September 14, 2006)

Mr. PAYNE. Let me thank the gentleman from Connecticut for taking this special order and let me acknowledge your great leadership as a leader in the Democratic Caucus. Let me also commend Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey for their leadership as cochairs of the Progressive Caucus where they have continually talked about progressive issues in this country and, in particular, the question of Iraq; and to commend Congresswoman Woolsey for her record of maybe 100 days consecutively speaking out against the war, day in and day out. Five years ago, on September 11, we had a tremendous amount of sympathy around the world. Everyone was with us. People throughout the world said this was a dastardly act. Seven hundred persons from my State perished. Flight 93 that left Newark Airport, including Ms. Wanda Green, a delightful African American woman, a flight attendant who traded with a friend who asked her if she could take her duty because of a conflict and she would switch and take Ms. Green's original duty which was not on 9/11. Ms. Green passed away on that infamous Flight 93. I met with her two children at the church in Linden where she lived. They are college-age students. Ms. Green was a divorcee and was the one taking care of the family. So this is very personal with all of us. From my house as I moved out to the corner and looked over, the World Trade Centers were both visible, the twin towers were very visible. I could see them very clearly. So it is very personal to us, all Americans, but especially to those of us who were so constantly involved in that area. When the President decided, though, to make Saddam Hussein a person that he felt should be dealt with and connected him to 9/11, it was actually criminal. Osama bin Laden, as we know, was in Afghanistan. We had a limited number of troops there. But just think of what position we would have been in today if our troops were sent to Afghanistan in the numbers that we have sent to Iraq. By this time I am sure Osama bin Laden would be behind bars or not alive at all. We could still have Iraq contained with the no-fly zone because they could not come in or go out. We had Predators watching. We knew where Saddam Hussein had lunch every day. It was bombed one day, but he left a few minutes early. They were going nowhere in Iraq. Osama bin Laden, in fact, talked as badly about Saddam Hussein as he did about the United States' leaders. But what did we do? Hans Blitz and the inspectors were given full range of the country. And when that announcement was made by the Government of Iraq, President Bush said, Get out in 48 hours. Why would you do that? They knew that they didn't have weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The bluff was over. So Saddam Hussein decided to let them go anywhere because I don't have them. And, therefore, they will see that the bluff is over. No, the President ordered the strikes. I will conclude because there are other Members here and I could go on and on and on. However, I was the one who controlled the 2-day debate where we debated giving the President the authority to having an attack on Iraq, a preemptive strike. I was convinced we should not choose war, we should choose diplomacy. Just think, Afghanistan would have been settled and we could have contained Saddam Hussein, but it was decided that we should go to war. Mission accomplished. We are losing lives every day. It was wrong. We need to come up with a sane plan to conclude this civil war that is in Iraq and move on to making our country a safer place.