The emperor has no clothes
By US Senator Robert Byrd
Senate Floor remarks
Oct. 17— 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 Oct. 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 UN in, and the US 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.”
