Debate Heats Up In Senate After House Resolution
By Andrew Kosow
WASHINGTON, Oct. 02, 2002–Talk of war heated up on Capitol Hill Wednesday as President Bush and the House leadership reached swift agreement on a resolution was between and on that would grant Bush the authority he seeks to launch a pre-emptive attack on Iraq.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D – Conn) quickly introduced an identical amendment in the Senate.
“You don’t sit back and wait for the mushroom cloud,” said Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays (R -4th) at a subcommittee hearing Wednesday afternoon on the Iraqi threat. “Containment, deterrence and mutually assured destruction no longer can assure our safety.”
Under Wednesday’s arrangement with House leaders, Bush, before using military force, must certify to Congress that diplomacy alone cannot protect U.S. citizens from weapons of mass destruction. In addition, he must notify Congress 48 hours before attacking Iraq.
“I am encouraged it was done in a bipartisan way,” Shays said. ” I am also happy that it seems to give the president the ability to act unilaterally if circumstances call for it.” Shays said that he supports United Nations inspections of Iraq’s suspected weapons-of-mass-destruction sites but only if they are “totally unfettered and without conditions.”
Lieberman, who previously voiced concern that any debate on Iraq before the elections would be too emotionally charged, said today at a White House press conference that the time has come to confront Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Lieberman said e was confident the resolution would pass within a week with a “very large bipartisan majority.”
“We can no longer tolerate the intransigence and danger posed by Saddam Hussein,” Lieberman said. “This resolution is our attempt to express our support of the president as commander-in-chief in seeking international backing for action against Saddam. It is also a way to strengthen the president’s hand as commander-in-chief if Saddam does not comply or the United Nations is not willing to take action to enforce its orders.”
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D – Conn) said in a press release, “This resolution is clearly an improvement over the one originally proposed by the President, which amounted to a blank check for military action in the region.” Dodd also said he was satisfied that the president understood the need to try to act in conjunction with U.S. allies.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Shays chaired a hearing by the Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs and International Relations on the Iraqi threat, where he tried to highlight what he said was the enormity of the task faced by weapons inspectors in Iraq.
He pointed to a satellite photo of one of the sprawling compounds of Saddam Hussein’s Mosul presidential palace that Iraq says would be off limits to weapons inspectors. The picture appears to show hardened bunkers, hardened storage warehouses and a command and control facility.
He then took out a twine ball the size of a softball and said it represented the amount of plutonium Iraq would need to build a nuclear device. “There are thousands of these softballs currently in unguarded facilities in Russia,” Shays said, referring to a tour he took of Russian nuclear facilities. “Once Saddam gets one, he would have a bomb in six months.”
Despite the evidence, Shays said, “constituents who contact me are 40 to 1 against any action in Iraq.” Shays said he listens to his constituents, but that he thinks the 70 families from the 4th District who lost loved ones on Sept. 11 understand– as he does from holding 34 hearings on terrorism and attending many security briefings– that there is no line that terrorists and people who hate the United States will not cross.
Published in The Hour, in Connecticut.
