[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 111 (Thursday, September 5, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H6076-H6077]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       SEPTEMBER 5, 2002, LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH REGARDING IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Jeff Miller of Florida). Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I, too, just returned from a month in my 
district, and spent a good deal of time traveling the district and 
talking with my constituents. I have a district that in fact voted in 
the majority for George Bush, and yet, I found, widely traveling my 
district, talking to diverse groups of constituents, a lot more 
questions than certainty about the President's position on Iraq. In 
fact, there is a great deal of misgiving in my district, as I believe 
there is abroad in the land.
  The gentleman who preceded me made an eloquent case on a number of 
points, and I will not repeat those but I will emphasize a few others.
  I am today sending a letter, along with 17 other Members of Congress, 
to the President. We are pleased that the President has now recognized 
the constitutional authority of the Congress to declare war and about 
the fact that he will come to Congress for approval for a war against 
Iraq.
  At this point, I would venture and hope that Congress would not be 
willing to grant such approval to the President, given the lack of 
specificity and the many questions that need to be answered.
  Among the questions that need to be answered are the following:
  What is the threat posed by Saddam Hussein to the United States? 
UNSCOM said they destroyed 90 to 95 percent of their weapons of mass 
destruction. Is there convincing evidence of renewed production of 
chemical and biological weapons? Is there evidence that Iraq has 
successfully produced a nuclear weapon? Is there evidence Iraq has 
produced a reliable delivery system for weapons of mass destruction?
  Are there new developments that mean Iraq poses an imminent threat to 
the United States, and therefore requires immediate attention? A year 
ago, the administration did not seem to think that. What has changed in 
that intervening time? If not, would a policy of enforcing no-fly 
zones, vigorous weapons inspections, military sanctions be effective in 
containing and/or reducing the perceived threat, given the success of 
such strategies over the last decade?
  Is there any convincing evidence that Iraq planned, authorized, 
committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 
11, or harbored such organizations or persons? That would give some 
authority to act without a specific grant from Congress, but the 
administration has not made that case.
  Is there convincing evidence that Iraq has shared its knowledge of 
biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons, or the weapons themselves, 
with other nations or terrorist organizations? How does the threat of 
Iraq doing so compare with the threat posed by Iran, Pakistan, China, 
North Korea, or a number of other nations that are known to possess 
weapons of mass destruction, some of whom are known to be sharing and 
selling such information?
  How does the administration intend to assure Iraq does not become 
balkanized? This was the problem that was confronted by Colin Powell 
and the father of President Bush when they decided not to go to 
Baghdad, as they said at the time.

[[Page H6077]]

  Will Iraq become balkanized? If it does, what happens with Turkey? 
What happens with the Kurds wanting their own nation? What happens with 
the Shi'as in Iran? What happens with the long-term prospects for the 
governance of Iraq itself?
  I witnessed a Republican Senator saying we were going to rule Iraq. 
The United States of America is going to rule Iraq alone, without 
allies? Has anybody really thought about what that would mean?
  What are the potential disruptions to the United States economy? We 
have some problems here at home. I have a lot of unemployed people in 
my district, the highest unemployment rate in the Nation in my State.
  What are the potential economic disruptions that might come from a 
war with Iraq? Would it lead to a disruption of oil supplies? Would it 
drive up the price of oil dramatically, as it did in the last Gulf War? 
How much would such a war cost the United States of America and its 
taxpayers? What are the risks to our troops? What are the risks in 
terms of a long-term occupation?
  We have not yet resolved the situation or stabilized the situation in 
Afghanistan, which is a country that had no discernible military, no 
weapons of mass destruction. They did harbor terrorists. It was a rogue 
regime. But yet, the United States of America, with a substantial 
number of allies around the world, has yet to bring settled conditions 
to that country. Yet, we are about to depart for a much larger nation 
who has not been involved, as far as has been revealed to Congress or 
the people of the United States, in the attacks upon our country, has 
not posed a credible threat to the United States or our allies. 
However, we are off on another adventure.
  Is this left-over business from George Bush's father's 
administration? It seems like a number of the most hawkish people in 
his administration are people who served in his father's 
administration, who still regret the fact that they did not pursue the 
war to an end then, and they want to revisit the issue.
  Many questions need to be answered before this Congress should extend 
authority to the President to wage a war against Iraq, the first 
preemptive war in the history of the United States of America.

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