Kennedy Wants Vote Before War
Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will introduce a resolution requiring President Bush to come back to Congress and “present convincing evidence of an imminent threat” before the United States sends its troops to war against Iraq.
Kennedy issued the challenge moments after Bush vowed in his State of the Union address to use “full force and might of the U.S. military” if necessary to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
“Instead of rushing down the path to war with Iraq, the American people deserve a full debate,” Kennedy said.
Congress voted last fall to authorize military action, but Kennedy said a new vote is needed. “Putting American lives at risk is the most solemn responsibility of our government.”
Other Democrats also voiced doubts about Bush’s Iraq strategy as Republicans closed ranks behind the president.
Congressman Martin T. Meehan, said the president failed to make his case to use force or reveal new evidence connecting Saddam to chemical weapons or the Sept. 11 attacks, has Meehan had hoped.
“He took a pass on that,” said the Lowell Democrat.
Democrats were particularly critical of Bush for vowing that the United States would act alone against Iraq if necessary.
Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, who has opened a presidential exploratory committee, called Bush’s handling of Iraq “unilateral, overbearing, high-handed.”
“He talks about keeping Americans safe, but has too often practiced a blustering unilateralism that is wrong, and even dangerous, for our country,” Kerry said in a statement.
Republicans agreed with Bush that “the course of this nation does not depend on others.”
“We can never turn over our own national security and our need to protect ourselves to somebody else,” Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said in a statement.
“We can’t wait for other nations. We have to lead,” said Rep. Charles Bass, R-N.H., in a statement. “That’s our role now.”
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to resolve this through the U.N., but at the end of the day, Saddam Hussein is a threat to Americans,” said Congressman. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H. “We have to be prepared.”
Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., said Bush’s statements on Iraq had resonance.
“One of the most impressive parts of the speech was the 10 or 15 minutes where there was silence in the chamber, an erect audience listening to violations and evidence and failures of Iraq to comply,” Sununu said in a statement.
“I thought he was very firm on the war,” said Sally Cerasuolo, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce, who attended the speech as Meehan’s guest. “Certainly, if you were sitting there, you knew it’s on the horizon.”
Overall, Meehan said Bush’s speech was “good on rhetoric, but bad on the economy.”
The president said the state of the union is strong, but Meehan said it’s clear that the economy is in bad shape. With increasing unemployment and a lack of economic growth, Meehan said, “we need to turn the economy around.”
American citizens and Congress have been patient with the president’s economic plan, Meehan said, but “clearly, it’s not working.” Meehan also said he wants more federal money going to assist states and a payroll tax cut to help working families. Meehan also said he is concerned about the federal deficit.
Meehan said he hopes Bush will work with Republicans and Democrats to craft an economic stimulus plan that will result in growth.
Kennedy said in addition to being concerned with what he called Bush’s “go-it-alone foreign policy,” he is also worried about a “you’re-on-your-own policy at home.”
“The President had an opportunity tonight to change the direction of this nation, and he failed,” Kennedy said.
On Bush’s economic plan, Kerry said “the issue of fundamental fairness is on the table as it hasn’t been for years in this country.”
“We need to put that choice of how we’re going to deliver that fairness to average folks in America, to the average person who works hard, plays by the rules, who expects the government to repay that with fairness, and what they’re doing now is reverse Robin Hood,” Kerry told a group of reporters Tuesday afternoon.
“They’re taking from the middle class and giving to the wealthiest Americans. I think that most Americans know there’s a better set of choices.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, in Massachusetts.
