Kennedy Takes Stand on Iraq, Civil Rights in Speech to National Press Club
WASHINGTON – Sen. Edward Kennedy echoed the sentiments of many foreign leaders Tuesday, saying the Bush administration should let United Nations weapons inspectors do their jobs before the United States wages war on Iraq.
Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, told a National Press Club audience of about 200 that war against Iraq would distract America from the “clear and present danger” of terrorism and the crisis in North Korea, which he labeled as more-immediate threats.
“As we meet, 150,000 members of our armed forces will be in the Gulf by the end of the month, ready to go if the president gives the order,” he said. “I continue to be convinced that this is the wrong war at the wrong time.”
Kennedy delivered his remarks as President Bush expressed frustration Tuesday with allies who are hesitant to support a U.S.-led war against Iraq and its president, Saddam Hussein, who, Bush said, has been given “ample time” to disarm. France and Germany have both said they would try to dissuade the U.N. Security Council from adopting a war resolution against Iraq. Bush’s aides said he would lead a coalition to disarm Iraq without the support of the United Nations, if necessary.
But Kennedy said an assault on Iraq – especially without widespread international support – would undermine the attempt to defeat Al Qaeda and feed anti-American sentiment overseas. It would also strain U.S. diplomatic, military and intelligence resources and hinder the ability to “root out terrorism at home and abroad,” he said.
“President Bush has said that war with Iraq is a last resort, and we must hope he still means it,” Kennedy said. “As long as the United Nations inspectors are on the ground and have access to suspected weapons sites, there is no sound reason to rush to pull the trigger of war.”
Kennedy, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he hasn’t seen any intelligence that would justify a war with Iraq. The recent discovery of empty chemical warheads, unearthed by inspectors in the Iraqi desert, is an indication that the inspections are working and a reason to give inspectors more time, he said. The United States should focus more attention on North Korea, which has sold missiles to nations like Libya and Syria that provide refuge and resources to terrorists, he said, adding that such missiles could easily be fitted with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
So far, the Bush administration has taken a diplomatic approach toward North Korea, working with allies in that region in an attempt to improve relations between North and South Korea and between North Korea and the United States. Kennedy said he supports the administration’s current approach with North Korea, but criticized what he called Bush’s “my-way-or-the-highway” foreign policy.
Kennedy also questioned the administration’s commitment to equality in what he called a “frontal attack on affirmative action,” citing Bush’s stated opposition last week to the University of Michigan’s admissions policy, in which some minorities are awarded points toward admission based on their race. Bush criticized the policy, calling it a quota system.
The Supreme Court will rule on the university’s policy in the coming months. Kennedy called on the Senate to reverse the administration’s “retreat from equality” and refuse to confirm judicial nominees who are “hostile to the core values of a diverse, democratic society.”
“Our institutions of higher education today are on the front lines in the battle to enable minority and low-income students to take their seats at the table of opportunity, and we must not let them down,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, in Massachusetts.
