Posted on 05/19/2004 10:20:14 PM PDT by Howlin
Beautiful!
bump
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I thank Senator CARL LEVIN for his amendment. I thank the State of Michigan for sending Senator Levin to the Senate. His independence, his courage, his clear thinking, his love of country are evident in the work he has put behind this important amendment. I believe his answer to Iraq's challenge is, indeed, the right course for this country.
To me, the issue of Iraq should be approached in the following way. Iraq must be held to its word that it will submit to thorough inspections and dismantlement of weapons of mass destruction. Let me repeat that: Iraq must be held to its word that it will submit to thorough inspections and dismantlement of weapons of mass destruction.
The United Nations should pass an updated resolution ensuring unfettered inspections and disarmament, and that should take place or there will be dire consequences for Iraq. The weapons they have are a threat to the world. The world must respond. If we handle this matter correctly, the way Senator Levin is suggesting, I believe the world will respond. If we handle it wrong--and I think the underlying resolution is the wrong approach--if our allies believe we have not made the case, they believe somehow this is a grudge match, or if they believe they are being manipulated for domestic political reasons, that is going to hurt our Nation and that is going to isolate us.
Indeed, this rush to pass unilateral authority--I have never seen anything quite like what has happened in the Senate. The rush to pass unilateral authority, the rush to say to the President, go it alone, don't worry about anybody else, is hurting this debate, and this debate looks political. It looks political.
If there are those in the administration who believe this debate could hurt Democrats, they may be surprised. Democrats do not walk in lockstep. We are independent thinking. I believe the people want that.
Remember, this administration started out thumbing its nose at the
[Page: S10254] GPO's PDF
Also, as the Presiding Officer knows, they wanted a resolution that gave the authority far beyond Iraq. They wanted to give the President authority to go anywhere in the world.
Now that idea is gone from the underlying Lieberman resolution. So checks and balances do work. I think what we ought to do is continue those checks and balances by passing the Levin amendment.
The Levin amendment puts America front and center in a way that will win over the civilized world. This is what it does.
No. 1, it urges the U.N. Security Council to quickly adopt a resolution for inspections of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and the dismantlement of those weapons.
No. 2, this new U.N. Security Council resolution urges that we will back up the resolution with the use of force, including the United States. And the President gets that authority in Senator Levin's resolution.
No. 3, it reaffirms that, under international law and the United Nations Charter, the United States has the inherent right to self-defense. So anybody who says, my God, we are giving everything over to the U.N., has not read the resolution.
Last, it states the Congress will not adjourn sine die so that in a moment's notice we can return if the President believes we need to go it alone.
Some have said that the Levin amendment, again, gives veto power to the U.N. Security Council. That is not true. Again, under the Levin amendment, if the President cannot secure a new U.N. resolution that will ensure disarmament of Iraq, he can come back, he can lay out the case and answer the questions that have not been answered.
I have looked back through history. I never have seen a situation where the President of the United States asked for the ability to go to war alone and yet has not told the American people what that would mean. How many troops would be involved? How many casualties might there be? Would the U.S. have to foot the entire cost of using force against Iraq? If not, which nations are ready to provide financial support? Troop support? What will the cost be to rebuild Iraq? How long would our troops have to stay there? What if our troops become a target for terrorists?
We have seen in Kuwait, a very secure place for our people; we have had terrorist incidents already against our young people there.
Will weapons of mass destruction be launched against our troops? Against Israel? If you read the CIA declassified report--declassified report--they are telling us that the chance that he will use them is greater if he feels his back is up against the wall. Everybody knows the underlying resolution implies regime change. It implies regime change. What I think is important about the Levin resolution is that it goes to the heart, the core of the matter, which is dismantlement of the weapons of mass destruction.
If Saddam knows his back is against the wall, he will use these [WMDs ~ Oxen] .
Didn't she say they weren't in Iraq during Dr. Rice's hearing?
BUMP for later read when my brains are working
Just put your coffee on a IV drip............
I wish that would work
I was up all night typing my daughters school report only to find out they canceled school due to the weather
Yes. She said that it was a lie that AQ was in Iraq prior to the war.
Nevermind that Clinton's Justice Department obtained a federal indictment against OBL which specifically cited OBL's ties to Iraq.
Nevermind that in the 90's the MSM wrote dozens of articles about the world's alarm at the growing relationship between OBL and Saddam.
Nevermind that the Senate Intelligence Report had several provacative comments about the first WTC bombing and the ties to Iraq.
Links here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1224050/posts
Truth is to democrats what kryptomite is to Superman. They can't exist in the same room.
Looks like she was trying to make the point the Admin. didn't say Al-quida was in Iraq. Looks to me like she was trying to pin Condi down.
BTTT
I was surprised to hear that because it was so obviously not true. Bush was given bad information if he did sign off on something like that. But given Boxer's propensity to lie, I'm not so sure the document stated what she claims it did.
As well, I was disappointed with Condi's answer. I know it was a long day and there were so many charges she had to pick and choose which ones to respond to, but this is so important in order to keep support for the war that I believe she should have responded more fully than she did.
Since it's a state department document, we can see why it's not a fully informed picture. LOL
As well, no one has claimed that an actual AQ "cell" operated in Iraq.
But the fact remains that Saddam supporters met with AQ at a pre 9/11 planning meeting.
Salmon Pak was being used by AQ and other terrorists.
Various AQ members WERE in Iraq pre war, but they didn't compose what Boxer referred to as a cell.
Exploring Probable Links Between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein
The above thread I found has lots of links, posted by mattdono
And, just to be clear, some of the links may have known been born out to be less accurate, but it doesn't take away the fact that those were the facts at the time and that's what the decisions were made on. It's also funny to point out that several of the sources (NY Times, The New Yorker, CBS, etc.) are HARDLY friends of the Bush administration. It just proves that these people in the media (yes, leftist scum suckers) are more focused on simply being contrarian, rather than even attempting to search for the truth.
Anyway, I have a meeting, gotta run.
Snow day!!!!
Woo hoo!!
I don't think I have some of those links, nicmarlo. Will check them out and add to my list when I get back later. Thank you so much!
Exactly!
yw...glad to help.
If he was misled, he's an idiot.
He's NOT an idiot! At least he never shows up for any meetings and he's way behind in his dues. :-)
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