[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 3 (Thursday, January 29, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONDEMNING IRAQ'S THREAT TO INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY

  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, the crisis in Iraq has been created because 
of the appalling behavior of a man bent on defying the legitimate 
directives he agreed to as the defeated leader of a ruthless and rogue 
army. For months, if not years, Saddam Hussein has been developing and 
hiding the very weapons he explicitly vowed to excise from his 
country's arsenal. These are weapons which he has demonstrated the will 
to use and which, in a slightly more sophisticated delivery system, may 
threaten the entire world. He has starved his people in order to gain 
sympathy from a compassionate world community, he has gassed his own 
citizens to silence their cries for freedom, he has ruthlessly attacked 
his neighbors, massacring thousands through chemical warfare, and he 
has threatened to incinerate an entire people of a neighboring 
sovereign nation.
  This crisis needs to be ingrained into our psyche as a case study of 
how a bellicose and unrepentant government can circumvent its 
obligations to the world community and world peace, and avoid the 
reasonable consequences for those actions. Even more so, this is an 
object lesson of how our ``allies'' will respond to such behavior. They 
seem willing to curry favor with a dictator by compromising and 
redefining critical enforcement procedures. Compromise? What is there 
to compromise? Saddam has broken his covenant with the world. We know 
it. The world knows it, and our collective governments have been 
ineffectual in dealing with him. To the President and the leaders of 
the other nations of the world, I ask three very basic questions and 
give you three very basic ``heartland of America'' responses.
  First, has Saddam honored his commitment to the world in freely and 
openly ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction? No.
  Second, will he? Not if we don't have the courage to force him, with 
extreme prejudice to his military, if necessary.
  And third, is he more dangerous today than yesterday because of a 
basic weakness and willingness to compromise something which should be 
enforced without compromise? And that answer is, yes he is more 
dangerous.
  We have wasted critical time. We have allowed Saddam the opportunity 
to develop the very things he has sworn not to and the very things we 
swore we wouldn't permit. The current situation must not continue. We 
must and I believe we can, convince a nervous and wary cadre of allied 
nations to stand up for what is right and what is demanded to preserve 
the stability of the world. But if not Mr. President we may have to go 
it alone or with but a few courageous colleagues from the league of 
nations.
  I am sure we will support the President's decision for decisive 
action, whatever it may be. Therefore, I join with the majority and 
minority leaders of this great body and ask that they would consider 
adding me to the list of co-sponsors of their concurrent resolution 
number 71 concerning the current crisis in Iraq.

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