Kerry Says Bush U.N. Speech a Good Step, But Not Enough for War
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2002–Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. applauded President Bush’s speech to the United Nations Thursday as an effort to gather international support for ousting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. However, Kerry said military force should be used only as a last resort.
“If you’re going to go to war…you do so because you have to, not because you want to,” he said at a Capitol Hill press conference. “I think that’s the only way you can look a parent in the face if they have lost a son or daughter, saying that ‘we really didn’t have any choice.’ ”
Kerry’s comments were in response to Bush’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly in which the president called upon the U.N. to require Iraq to honor its commitments.
“The Iraqi regime agreed to destroy and stop developing all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles, and to prove to the world it has done so by complying with rigorous inspections. Iraq has broken every aspect of this fundamental pledge,” asserted Bush.
The president also asked world leaders to move “deliberately” and “decisively” against Saddam if he does not comply with U.N. resolutions.
Kerry said that Saddam’s non-compliance with U.N. resolutions is not enough to justify the use of force to remove the Iraqi leader.
Two other members of the local delegation, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., Thursday expressed similar views to Kerry’s.
Though Kerry said it was important for Congress to support the president’s efforts in consulting with the U.N., he urged the Bush administration to continue working closely with the international community to come to a consensus on the best way to deal with the Iraqi regime.
“It’s important to support the president, and it’s important to support the approach to the United Nations, and it’s important to support the definition of Saddam Hussein as a problem,” he said. “But I think it would be a mistake for us to declare … unilateral steps we will take, no matter what the United Nations does.”
In an interview today, Tierney also praised Bush for making a positive first step in addressing the worldwide community.
“It appears that at least the president is refocusing to look at international issues” by consulting with the U.N., he said.
However, Tierney said he was “skeptical” about invading Iraq without any concrete evidence from the administration that Saddam Hussein posed a direct threat to the U.S.
Kerry said that though the president had made a positive step in approaching the U.N., he still needed to make a case for war.
“I think the president today laid out a case for Saddam Hussein’s egregious behavior with respect to the United Nations,” he said. “I think the president could have… and will be connecting the dots with respect to the potential terrorist linkages.”
Kerry said he did not expect Congress to vote on any resolution authorizing the use of force until the president had laid out a clear framework of where he intended to go with regard to Iraq and what role the U.N. would play in that action.
“If the President of the United States, as of this Sunday has not made up his mind as to what options to use, it is premature to come to Congress and tell us what we should do, when the president doesn’t know what he’s doing,” said Kerry.
In a statement Kennedy said, “There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein’s regime is a serious threat. I commend President Bush for expressing America’s willingness to work with the United Nations to end that threat.”
Published in The Gloucester Daily News, in Massachusetts
