In his opening

comments before the testimony of former CIA directors James Woolsey and

John Deutch, Collins discussed the reasons for attacking Iraqi dictator

Saddam Hussein.

"Look

at the name of the operation," Collins said. "It was not 'Operation

find Weapons of Mass Destruction.' It was not 'Operation Determine Whether

Saddam Hussein Tried to Buy Uranium From Africa.' It was Operation Iraqi

Freedom. That means you are taking down a tyrant and a dictator who had

killed a lot of his own people. And not only his own people, but he wanted

to rule the region. We saw this when we pushed him out of Kuwait in 1991."

Collins also

laid out the case for Hussein's ties to the Al Queda terrorist organization;

discussing now declassified intelligence revealing flight training facilities

in Iraq, support for Palestinian suicide bombers, and incidents of terrorists

taking refuge in Iraq.

"We have

evidence that Iraq was training terrorists in how to take over a jet liner

to use as a weapon to kill Americans," Collins said. "A Boeing

707 used for that very purpose was found in Iraq. Even with all of the

problems we have with our Intelligence Community, intelligent people can

make the determination that Iraq was involved with terrorists and the

evidence shows this."

Collins admitted

there were problems with the gathering of intelligence but that these

problems were being addressed by the committee.

"Are there

problems in the Intelligence Community?Yes. Are we addressing them? Yes,"

Collins said.

The testimony

of DCIs Woolsey and Deutch bore out those problems and the steps being

taken to address them.

"One of

the biggest problems we face is the willingness to listen to walk-ins

and those who volunteer information and not just recruited assets,"

Woolsey told the committee.

One of the

ways Woolsey claimed this is being addressed is by advisory groups within

each of the agencies which will often approach those walk-ins turned away

While the bulk

of the fighting in Iraq has ended, Collins expressed that we have only

entered the second phase of operations.

"We are

in phase two," Collins said. "The first phase was the swift

military action and air strikes by our forces.This second phase is the

stabilization of the government of Iraq; returning the people to a sense

of normalcy. We knew we would face terrorist attacks and snipers.We have

faced these problems in every conflict we have ever fought throughout

our history.But we will be successful in helping the people of Iraq establish

a democracy after so many years of oppression.

"We could

have had more casualties if we had fought door to door from the Kuwait

border to Baghdad, but we didn't do that.We bypassed those areas to get

to the head of the evil government and by doing so we saved the lives

of many more soldiers and Marines, as well as the Iraqi people. Now we

have to clean up those pockets of resistance and we are in the process

of doing that."

When asked

how long American troops will stay in Iraq, Collins' response, and that

of the soldiers, is "until the job is done.We have put in place an

interim council to establish self rule for the Iraqi people. The chief

of the Infantry School from Fort Benning is there training a new Iraqi

military so they can stand up and defend themselves. We are training a

police force; many of them are already in uniform and on duty. We are

putting in place a judicial system which can administer justice. Schools

are open and infrastructure is being repaired. This second phase is setting

the stage for phase three, the exit plan when we can bring our troops

home and the nation of Iraq can once again rule itself."

Another issue

addressed by the Committee was whether Iraq possessed illegal WMDs. The

committee examined the amount of biological and chemical agents needed

to carry out a massive lethal attack on the United States or its allies.

Former DCI Woolsey described the amount of unaccounted for agents as half

a truck full of chemical agents and a few suitcases of biological agents

hidden in a nation the size of California, yet capable of killing millions.

"To put

it in perspective, imagine how many half truckloads of marijuana and how

many suitcases of cocaine are currently in California without the knowledge

of the authorities," Woosley said. "Absence of evidence is not

evidence of absence."

Additionally,

Congress has released the declassified version of the joint inquiry report

on Sept. 11, 2001.The entire report may be downloaded from Collins' Web

site at https://www.house.gov/maccollins/911report.pdf.