Maine Delegation Supports Bush’s New Direction
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2002–Members of Maine’s congressional delegation applauded President Bush’s willingness to cooperate with the United Nations on the possibility of striking against Iraq.
Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly Thursday in an effort to make a clear case before the international community on the need to take swift action against the Iraqi regime.
“Today, President Bush forcefully and definitively framed how Saddam Hussein’s regime has systematically flouted 16 separate U.N. Security Council resolutions and international law over the past decade,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe (R).
Snowe also said that Bush’s address will open important communications between Congress and the United Nations on Iraq’s future.
Snowe also commended Bush for “calling on the Security Council to enforce all of its resolutions, and demand that Saddam Hussein comply.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R) said in a written statement that she believes Bush’s speech shows that his administration is on the right track.
“It is important he continue consulting with our allies, Congress and the American people as he develops a case for a possible strike again,” Collins said.
All members of the Maine congressional delegation stressed the importance of multilateral cooperation. Rep. John Baldacci (D) said in a press release that he wants to see all efforts moving in a timely manner to ensure success.
“The president was very forceful in urging the U.N. to compel Iraq to comply with the U.N.,” Baldacci said in an interview. “It’s important for the U.N. to go in unfettered to be able to make sure that once and for all the treaty from the Gulf War that was signed by Iraq be adhered to and certified.”
Rep. Tom Allen (D) also agreed that Bush is taking the right steps to open a new debate over how exactly to deal with Iraq. But he does not believe the United States is in immediate danger.
“While Iraq’s continued development of weapons of mass destruction is a real concern, I have yet to see compelling evidence that it presents a direct and urgent threat to the United States,” Allen said.
Allen, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he has been involved in several classified meetings with U.S. intelligence officials about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program, as well as in hearings with two former U.N. weapons inspectors.
“We have time to consider all the policy options and to work in concert with the international community,” Allen said in a press release.
Allen also has raised questions about Iraq’s future should Hussein’s regime topple. “What happens to Iraq?” he said in an interview. “If we think Afghanistan is hard to reconstruct, I know Iraq is likely to be more difficult.”
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
