[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 18, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3834-S3836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

  CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2004--
                               Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now 
return to legislative session and resume consideration of S. Con. Res. 
23.
  The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. NICKLES. How much time remains on the Conrad amendment?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority has 51 minutes and the minority 
has 19 minutes.
  Mr. NICKLES. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coleman). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, we are now on the Conrad amendment. The 
majority leader wishes to speak. I ask unanimous consent the time for 
that statement be charged against the majority side on the budget 
resolution. Following the statement, the Senate will recess. That 
recess will be charged to the amendment. When the amendment time runs 
out, it will be charged to the majority side on the budget resolution.
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, it is my understanding 
Senator Conrad has 19 minutes remaining on the amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Correct.
  Mr. CONRAD. Reserving the right to object, I want to understand just 
what transpired before we go forward.
  Mr. REID. If I could state what is going to happen, after the 
majority leader makes his statement, we will go into a quorum call and 
the time will be

[[Page S3835]]

charged against the amendment, which would mean you would lose 19 
minutes and they would lose whatever additional time they had, which 
would be an hour and 50 or 60 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                                  IRAQ

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, last night the President addressed the 
Nation on the approaching consequences of 12 years of deceit and 
brutality by the regime of Saddam Hussein. The stark choice presented 
to Saddam's regime is fully justified: leave or be removed.
  Saddam has failed to disarm. He has violated 17 U.N. resolutions, 
attacked his neighbors, threatened regional stability and sought and 
used weapons of mass destruction. He has assaulted his own people and 
ruled them by terror. This 12-year saga of deceit and denial now enters 
its final chapter.
  For those who suffer daily terror under the oppression of Saddam's 
regime, for those who have survived torture and imprisonment, for those 
who watched as family members suffered and died in the agony of 
chemical weapons attacks, their moment of liberation is near. For those 
who will defend this dying regime, the moment of reckoning is imminent.
  The President has shown great patience and given diplomacy every 
chance to work, but as he stated last night the time to act has 
arrived.
  In recent days we have heard intemperate and ill-chosen words of 
criticism directed at the President from some elected to serve in this 
great body. Such statements are, simply put, disappointing.
  We have reached this moment of possible conflict with Iraq, not by 
our choosing but by Saddam Hussein's. We do not prepare for war because 
we want to. We do so because we must. The failure of diplomacy to deter 
Saddam Hussein does not date back to the past 4\1/2\ months or to the 
beginning of this President's term.
  The failure of diplomacy traces back through 12 years of defiance by 
Saddam Hussein, 12 years of deceit by his regime, 12 years of slowly 
eroding international resolve even among our allies while all the time 
the threat to this country has grown closer and closer and closer.
  Since that dark day in September of 2001, many in this great Nation 
have lived with the fear of the grave and growing threat of terrorism. 
Instinctively, the American people understand that we cannot permit a 
ruthless dictator, aggressor and supporter of terror such as Saddam 
Hussein to pursue and possess the world's most deadly weapons. This is 
a threat that must be addressed, now.
  Last night, in committing to meet this threat, the President stated 
what we have all come to expect and to respect, in him. He said:

       That duty falls to me as commander in chief by the oath I 
     have sworn, by the oath I will keep.

  The President has committed the Nation to action. We will not wait 
while the threat gathers with a destructive force that is 
incomprehensible. We will live in freedom of fear.

  I thank the Lord that at this moment of testing, this great Nation is 
led by this great leader.
  It has been suggested by some here on the Senate floor that the 
President acts without justification, without a legal basis, and 
without the consent of Congress. This is flat out wrong.
  Mr. President, each and every Senator is entitled to their own 
opinion, but they are not entitled to their own facts.
  On August 2, 1990, Iraq--without provocation--invaded and occupied 
the territory of Kuwait. Through 5\1/2\ months of diplomacy, Iraq 
ignored demands that it withdraw from Kuwait. And on January 16, 1991, 
a U.S.-led coalition of nations launched Operation Desert Storm. After 
the liberation of Kuwait, former President George Bush announced a 
cease-fire, unilaterally halting offensive military operations on 
February 28, 1991.
  On March 3, 1991, General Norman Schwarzkopf and the commander of 
Iraqi forces concluded a cease-fire agreement, temporarily suspending 
gulf war hostilities. The cease-fire agreement obligated Iraq to accept 
unconditionally the voluntary destruction, removal, and rendering 
harmless--under international supervision--of all nuclear, chemical, 
and biological weapons, and all stocks of agents, and all related 
subsystems and components, and all research, development, support, and 
manufacturing facilities.
  The cease-fire agreement was ratified and approved on April 3, 1991, 
by the U.N. Security Council in Resolution 687. That resolution, which 
is still in force, reaffirms all 13 of the Security Council's earlier 
resolutions on Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
  In a letter delivered to the Security Council on April 6, 1991, 
Saddam Hussein's regime formally accepted the terms of the cease-fire 
without conditions. Nevertheless, Saddam Hussein has consistently and 
repeatedly refused to abide by his obligations to disarm under 
international supervision as required in the 1991 gulf war cease-fire 
and succeeding United Nations resolutions, and has attacked U.S. and 
British aircraft lawfully enforcing these obligations almost 
continuously since 1991.
  On November 8, 2002, the United Nations Security Council unanimously 
adopted Resolution 1441. This resolution gave Saddam Hussein's regime 
``a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations,'' 
which preserved and cited the authorities to act contained in 
Resolution 687, and placed the burden of proving compliance squarely on 
the Iraqi dictator.
  In the intervening 12 years, Saddam Hussein has blatantly and 
cynically persisted in his illegal refusal to comply with his 
obligations under the 1991 cease-fire agreement that suspended 
hostilities in the gulf war, and with Resolution 1441.
  Mr. President, international obligations such as those which Saddam 
Hussein has ignored for more than a decade are meaningless unless they 
are backed by an unflinching resolve and international commitment to 
enforce them.
  Given Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs, his 
demonstrated willingness to use these weapons, and possible 
intersections between his regime, al-Qaida, and other international 
terrorist organizations, the absence of such resolve could have 
devastating consequences for world peace in general and to the United 
States in particular.
  If it is necessary to act, if Saddam fails to heed the ultimatum, any 
subsequent military action against Saddam Hussein's regime will be 
lawful and fully authorized, pursuant to a series of resolutions passed 
by the Congress, pursuant to the President's Commander in Chief 
authority under the Constitution, pursuant to the venerable 
international legal principle confirming the inherent right of a state 
to defend itself, pursuant to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, 
and pursuant to a long series of United Nations Security Council 
resolutions.
  In the event of hostilities, the U.S. service men and women on the 
front lines will have this Congress' full support and the backing of 
the American people. We will do what it takes to give them the 
resources they need to complete their mission. Our thoughts and our 
prayers are with them, and with their families and loved ones here at 
home.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. WARNER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time to the Senator from Virginia?
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I yield myself 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I commend our distinguished majority 
leader for his very heartfelt remarks. We were together last night at 
the meeting with the President. It was a somber meeting. But, clearly, 
the President is a man at peace with himself and has inner confidence. 
He has carefully gone about the decisionmaking to arrive at the 
decision he made last night and such decisions as he may make here in 
the ensuing hours and days to come.
  But most especially, in the minds of all of us last night were the 
men and women of the Armed Forces and their families. The distinguished 
leader has spoken most eloquently about them. Because, in the end, 
together with a large group of civilians who are employed in the 
various agencies and Departments of our Government, they must bear the 
risk, the brunt of such force as may be used against them. So I am 
privileged to stand here with my distinguished leader today.

[[Page S3836]]

  I, too, am concerned about the remarks of some of our colleagues. I 
found some of those remarks to be, in my judgment, a disbelief. I could 
not believe they were said. But bottom line, this morning, in the Armed 
Services Committee, in a formal meeting of the committee, I invited 
each Senator present, on both sides of the aisle, to address opening 
statements on the events of the last 24, 48 hours. I say to my 
distinguished leader and to my colleagues, I felt their responses were 
very responsible and, indeed, showing support for the men and women in 
the Armed Forces and the Commander in Chief, who must make those 
decisions to lead them.
  I yield the floor.

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