[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 111 (Thursday, September 5, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S8246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S8246]]
                                  IRAQ

  Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, I have sought recognition to discuss 
the present grave concern in the United States, and for that matter, 
around the world, about the menace posed by Saddam Hussein and Iraq.
  I am pleased to note that the President has announced his intention 
to come to Congress to seek authorization before there is any military 
action taken by the United States as to Iraq. Senator Harkin and I had 
introduced a resolution back in July asking that congressional 
authority be obtained before any military action. The President, as 
Commander in Chief, under the Constitution certainly has the authority 
to act in times of emergency. When there is time for discussion, 
deliberation, debate, and decision, then under the Constitution, it is 
the authority of the Congress to act.
  The events are moving very fast. There have been briefings of Members 
of the Congress by the Administration and there is a great concern, 
which I have personally noted in my State, Pennsylvania, on a series of 
town meetings across the State. Everywhere I traveled there was concern 
as to what action would be taken as to Iraq.
  There was no doubt that the United States has learned a very bitter 
lesson from 9/11; we should have taken preemptive action against Osama 
bin Laden and al-Qaida. We had evidence against civilians in Mogadishu 
in 1993, and embassy bombings in 1993. In all of those events, bin 
Laden was under indictment. We knew about his involvement in the USS 
Cole and his proclamation for a worldwide jihad; preemptive action 
should have been taken.
  Taking preemptive action against a nation-state would be a change in 
policy for the United States. It is my view that we ought to exhaust 
every alternative before turning to that alternative--economic 
sanctions, inspections, diplomacy.
  We have seen a number of people very close to President Bush and to 
the first President Bush, come out and caution against action. We have 
seen General Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser to 
President George Herbert Walker Bush, come out and raise a great many 
concerns about taking action without support from our allies. We have 
seen former Secretary of State James Baker raise an issue about going 
to the United Nations for inspections, which I think is a very sound 
point.
  It is my hope that President Bush will go to the United Nations and 
will press to have inspections of Iraq proceed. The obligation for Iraq 
to submit to those inspections is an obligation which runs to the 
United Nations. Iraq's commitments to the UN have been flouted.
  Former Secretary of State Baker makes the cogent suggestion that the 
United Nations ought to be called upon to take military action to 
enforce those inspection rights, if Saddam Hussein does not 
acquiesce. Certainly, if Saddam Hussein continues to stiff the UN, to 
thumb his nose at the UN, and thumb his nose at the international 
community, then there will be a stronger basis for the United States to 
act, if we decide that our national interests compel us to do so.

  There is an obvious difficulty in communicating to the American 
people all that President Bush and the intelligence agencies know about 
the threat posed by Iraq and posed by Saddam Hussein. There is a 
problem, as we have seen from our experience, in telling the Congress, 
even in closed session, even in top secret briefings, where that 
information, regrettably, is disclosed to the press. Leaks in 
Washington are epidemic. However, if the Congress is to discharge its 
duty to pass on the question of what is tantamount to a declaration of 
war, a resolution authorizing the use of force, we have to know the 
basis on which we are acting.
  There have been strong suggestions that there is very substantial 
evidence pointing to a clear and present danger now. We do know Saddam 
has chemical weapons. We do know he has used them on his own people, 
the Kurds. We do know he has used them in the Iran-Iraq war. There is 
substantial evidence about weapons of mass destruction and biological 
weapons. As best we know, Saddam Hussein does not yet have nuclear 
weapons, but how long it would take him to develop them is a question.
  For the Congress to act, we really have to have this information, and 
the President has intimated, really suggested, that more information 
will be coming to the Congress. So far, I do not think we have seen the 
indicators of a clear and present danger, but that is something which 
will have to be taken up.
  This is an issue which is now, obviously, on the front burner. There 
are indications that the President will seek a vote by the Congress 
before we adjourn. So it is a matter which will require very intensive 
consideration and analysis. However, it is my hope that when the 
President makes his speech at the United Nations next week, he will 
call on the UN to enforce the UN's inspection rights.
  Recently, Senator Shelby and I made a trip to Africa. Included in 
that trip was a visit to the Sudan. I had attempted to go there in the 
past and was advised against it because of the civil war, which has 
been raging in that country. We talked to U.S. intelligence personnel 
in the Sudan and found that they have worked out an arrangement with 
the Government of Sudan to make surprise inspections of weapons 
manufacturing locations and also on laboratories--going in with no 
notice, breaking locks, and taking photographs. They have concluded 
that, as to the installations they had identified and inspected, they 
were satisfied that there were no weapons of mass destruction being 
pursued by the Government of Sudan.
  That could be a model to go after as to inspections in Iraq. Of 
course, it still leaves open the possibility that there are some 
locations about which we do not know. It leaves open the possibility 
that some of the weapons of mass destruction could be transported, 
could be moved around. However, I think it would be a very significant 
step. Then, if Saddam and Iraq refused to honor their commitments, it 
would put us on the high ground to take action in our own national 
interest.
  I yield the floor. In the absence of any other Senator seeking 
recognition, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cantwell). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the time for 
debate on the Interior appropriations be extended for 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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