[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S960-S961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE SITUATION IN IRAQ

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I appreciate very much the leadership 
that Senator Lott has provided in the ongoing discussions that we have 
had in Congress on the situation with Iraq.
  I was very pleased that in the 2 weeks previous to this, when the 
President came to consult with Congress, that Senator Lott stated that 
we needed a plan, that it was important that the President have, 
indeed, in an aftermath certainly the acknowledgment that there might 
be a retaliation, and asking the President to tell us what the response 
would be. I think this set in motion, on the part of the President and 
the President's advisers really the awareness and the reality of the 
situation--that it is not an immediate situation that is going to be 
set aside and not visited again. In fact, I think all the indicators 
point to the fact that we are going to revisit this again--that perhaps 
we have a reprieve, that we

[[Page S961]]

have a window of opportunity. And this window of opportunity should be 
taken to lay out a long-term strategy--a long-term strategy that would, 
once and for all, make clear what our policy is in dealing with Saddam 
Hussein.
  For whatever else you say about Saddam Hussein, his objectives are 
clear. He has been very clear in his actions and in his words that he 
intends to make weapons of mass destruction, that he intends to abuse 
his people to be able to keep them, that he does not intend to be part 
of the community of nations. And I think it is time that America be 
just as clear with Saddam Hussein as he has been with us and with the 
world.
  It crystallized I think for the American people a higher-stake 
universe--not the rabble rousing by the people who were protesting the 
war. They would protest the war, no matter what. The people who would 
protest the war for the integrity and the security of the United States 
are not the mainstream of America. But who was the mainstream of 
America? It is that veteran, who spoke with a cracked voice, who said, 
``I fought in a war. My son fought in a war.'' And he asked the 
question that the American people and the Congress ask. And that is: 
What are you going to do? What is the plan? If you are going to put our 
troops in harm's way, are we going to have the guts to stick with it 
when the going gets tough? That was his question. He was so sincere. He 
captured the heart of America in that moment. And he captured the 
essence of what Congress has asked the President to do; that is, to 
submit a plan. If our troops are going into harm's way, if we are going 
to have an altercation with another country, let's be specific about 
what the mission is.
  The time has come to stop status quo with Saddam Hussein. The 
majority leader just mentioned that Saddam Hussein has quite a record. 
He plotted the assassination of our former President Bush. He used 
chemical weapons on his own people. He used chemical weapons on the 
Iranian people. He went into Kuwait, and tried to take over another 
country. This is not a man that we can deal with very easily. And 
business as usual has not worked for the last decade with Saddam 
Hussein.
  So I believe that the time has come for Congress and the President to 
work together to address this issue of Saddam Hussein. I hope the 
President will continue to consult with Congress, because I think in 
the last 2 weeks there has been a good understanding of where Congress 
is and where the American people are. Now is the time to put forth a 
plan. A group of our former Secretaries of State and Secretaries of 
Defense have made some suggestions. This is not to say that this is the 
only thing we could do. But certainly having a strategy is something 
that America has been able to do in the past, and should be able to do 
today.

  I think it is important that we look for another Iraqi Government 
that we could support--one that wants to be part of the community of 
nations. We could look at lifting sanctions in liberated areas of Iraq 
and communicate directly with the Iraqi people. Let them know the 
dangers of the chemical weapons that are being housed in their country 
and tell them there is another way. We want to help the Iraqi people. 
We want to give them the food and medicine for their children that we 
would like for them to have that every parent in the world wants for 
his or her children.
  We should target relief supplies to those Iraqi people who are in 
need. We need to delegitimize Saddam Hussein. And we need to be ready 
with enough troop force to make the threat and live up to it. That, if 
Saddam Hussein does not live up to this potential agreement that is 
laid before the Security Council today, we will be ready to act with 
force swiftly and go for what will be a destabilization of Saddam 
Hussein; that is, the military regime.
  That brings up another question. Are we ready to lead the forces we 
need for that kind of strength in the area of the Persian Gulf? Are we 
ready? That brings up the issue of what we are doing in other parts of 
the world. Is that bringing our forces down to the extent that we are 
not going to be able to do what we need in the Persian Gulf where 
everyone I think would agree we have a security interest? Right now we 
have some pretty alarming statistics. Last year the military had its 
worst recruiting year since 1979. The Army failed to meet its 
objectives to recruit infantry soldiers--the single most important 
specialty in the Army. More than 350 Air Force pilots turned down the 
$60,000 bonuses they would have received to reapply for the Air Force 
for 5 more years. That was a 29 percent acceptance rate. Mr. President, 
59 percent of the pilots offered that bonus accepted last year and 81 
percent in 1995. This is an alarming trend. This is something that we 
must address as we look at the issues of the use of our force and where 
they are.

  I come back to the need for a policy of when we are going to send 
American troops into harm's way. I think we must be very careful, 
because they are stretched so thin, that they are not going to be able 
to establish in the Persian Gulf a major presence in addition to our 
responsibilities in Korea and in Europe, and then with responsibilities 
that we have taken on for the United Nations in places like Haiti and 
Somalia. We have to have a policy. I would ask this administration to 
look very clearly at drawing down our readiness at the same time we are 
asking our troops to do more.
  So, these issues are before us. I think the administration should 
step back and use the window of opportunity to have a clear policy in 
Iraq. As we go into the discussion of Bosnia, I hope the President will 
also look at the fact that we have 500,000 fewer soldiers today than we 
did in Desert Storm, and that we are having a tough time keeping our 
good people in the military. Let's have a policy that will use our 
military when there is a U.S. security interest, but be very careful 
about dissipating our resources in places where we do not. That is 
causing us to lose many of our best people in the military.
  The young men and women who sign up to protect our freedom deserve 
the support of the U.S. Congress and the President--the support, the 
training, the quality of life, the equipment to do their job--because 
their job is protecting our freedom, and there can be nothing as 
important.
  I ask the administration to address these issues as we are looking at 
Iraq, as we are looking at Bosnia, as we are looking at our 
responsibilities in a global sense. Let's start acting like the 
superpower that we are and target our defense dollars for our readiness 
and our national security. Let's have policies where, when the United 
States speaks, everyone knows that we will be a reliable ally and a 
formidable enemy.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, what is the pending business before the 
Senate?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are on the veto message of H.R. 2631.
  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may proceed 
in morning business for 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SHELBY. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Shelby pertaining to the introduction of S. 1675 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')

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