Kerry Encouraged by U.N. Address
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2002–Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) Thursday commended President Bush’s U.N. address as an important first step toward rehabilitating the administration’s campaign for action against Iraq.
“I thought the president gave a strong speech, an important speech, and certainly clearly articulated the egregious behavior of Saddam Hussein over the course of the past year,” Kerry said at a press conference.
At the same time, he expressed frustration that the administration had delayed so long in taking its case to the international community, saying that “each and every point that was named today could have been named at the beginning of this administration, or any month into this administration.”
Kerry noted that going to the United Nations was a step he and other prominent Washington figures had been advocating for months. Joining Kerry on this front have been former Secretary of State James Baker III, former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and fellow Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.)
As the international community begins considering its own response to the president’s address, Kerry called for both Congress and the president to exercise prudence when considering further action in the weeks to come.
The senator was firm in his reluctance to pursue a congressional resolution backing the use of force too quickly. “I think you need to give this United Nations process a legitimate opportunity,” he warned, “because we don’t want to see this initiative turned into a charade.”
Kerry also was resolute in insisting that all possible alternatives to a full-scale invasion of Iraq be pursued before the nation commits itself to such a potentially massive undertaking. If you’re going to go to war, he cautioned, “do it because you have to, not because you want to.”
Overall, however, the senator spoke favorably of Bush’s address. “The embracing of the international community by this administration, finally, I think is important for our country and can only result in the strengthening of our capacity to provide for the national security needs of our nation,” Kerry said.
Published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, in Massachusetts.
