Maine Delegation says ‘Save Military Strike as Last Resort’
WASHINGTON, Oct. 09, 2002–The battle over the future of Saddam Hussein’s regime continued Wednesday at the Capitol, with Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe saying she planned to vote for the resolution supported by President Bush authorizing the United States to use force against Iraq.
Snowe said that “in the shadowy world of terrorism” there is great difficulty in tracking and intercepting weapons of mass destruction. She questioned where the line should be drawn when determining imminent threat.
“But how will we know when the danger is clear, present and immediate? When people start checking into hospitals? When the toxin shows up in the water supply? When the dirty bomb goes off?” Snowe asked.
The resolution was expected to pass both houses of Congress within about a week’s time.
Snowe emphasized that Iraq poses a threat not only to the United States but also to the entire international community, especially since U.N. weapons inspectors were withdrawn from Iraq four years ago.
“I believe the world must disarm Saddam Hussein now, when the development of his capability is imminent-not waiting until it is imminent he is about to strike,” Snowe said.
Snowe said unilateral military action should be a “last resort” tactic and that Bush must invest every last effort in organizing an international coalition against Saddam Hussein.
“By granting military authority to the president in advance, it leaves no question or uncertainty as to the level of our commitment-thereby strengthening the president’s ability to secure U.N. implementation of a new and enforceable resolution,” Snowe said.
Rep. Thomas H. Allen, a Democrat, disagreed with the president’s resolution because, he said, it provides a “blank check” for unilateral attack on Iraq without a vote in Congress.
“We are being used as a megaphone to communicate the president’s resolve,” Allen said. “We should have a larger role. An equal role.”
Allen joined South Carolina Democrat Rep. John M. Spratt in co-sponsoring an alternative resolution this week that would require the president to consult Congress on a unilateral strike should U.N. actions prove inadequate.
“In the war on terrorism, we need more friends and allies and fewer enemies,” Allen said. “We are unlikely to succeed through unilateral, pre-emptive policies so poorly received overseas.”
Democratic Rep. John E. Baldacci supports the Spratt-Allen resolution for multilateral cooperation against Iraq.
“It is a workable resolution, which neither ties the president’s hands nor promotes unilateral action by the United States,” Baldacci said.
Allen, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that he does not believe the Iraqi threat is imminent based on the information he received in classified briefings.
“In the past year terrorism has threatened us as never before. We should face that new threat resolutely, but not frighten our own people by overstating the risk to Americans,” Allen said.
Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins was unavailable for comment, but was scheduled to speak on the Senate floor Thursday morning.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
