11 September 2002
Senators Debate Iraq Options, Stress Need for Congressional Role
(Murkowski warns of Saddam Hussein's quest for nuclear weapons) (660) By Steve La Rocque Washington File Staff Writer Washington - In the U.S. Senate September 5, legislators debated the pros and cons of possible U.S. action against Iraq, some calling for restraint on the part of the Bush administration and others calling for urgent action to thwart Saddam Hussein's regime. A Republican from Alaska, Senator Frank Murkowski, warned of the risk of allowing Saddam Hussein "to continue to develop weapons of mass destruction." Murkowski, a member of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told fellow senators that it was "no secret" that Saddam Hussein's Baghdad regime has been developing the capability not only for weapons of mass destruction, but for a delivery system as well. He noted that in the Gulf War, Iraq's delivery system was capable of reaching Israel. "We have every reason to believe he is developing his nuclear capability," he said. "In the case of Saddam Hussein, clearly we know he is developing weapons of mass destruction." "We are giving Saddam Hussein a choice of either surrender -- in other words, open up your country to the U.N. inspectors -- or be prepared for the ultimate alternative, and that is basically to be subjected to a conflict that could go on for some time," Murkowski said. On the other side, Senator Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, cautioned fellow legislators not to act in haste before seeing evidence of Iraq's weapons capabilities. "The war drums are beating all around us," he said, "I want to listen to what the president has to say. I want to listen to what he is going to say at the United Nations." Byrd, who is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and a member of the Senate Rules Committee, the Budget Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Constitution grants to Congress the power to declare war. Senator Arlen Specter, a Republican of Pennsylvania, said President Bush "as Commander-in-Chief under the Constitution certainly has the authority to act in times of emergency." However, "when there is time for discussion, deliberation, debate, and decision, then under the Constitution, it is the authority of the Congress to act," he said. Specter, who is the ranking minority member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said events were moving fast, and there was concern as to what action the Bush administration would take. Specter called the September 11 attacks "a very bitter lesson" for the United States, adding that "we should have taken preemptive action against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda." Regarding Saddam Hussein's Baghdad regime, Specter noted that "taking preemptive action against a nation-state would be a change in policy for the United States." The Pennsylvania Republican said such action could only follow after the United States had exhausted "every alternative before turning to that alternative -- economic sanctions, inspections, diplomacy." Under Article I Section 8, which lists the powers of Congress, the Constitution says Congress shall have power "to declare war." It also gives the Congress the power to "raise and support armies," and "to provide and maintain a navy." Throughout the history of the United States, legislators have used these powers to make known their and their constituents' views on going to war. After Japan struck the United States at Pearl Harbor in a sneak attack December 7, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt went before Congress, requested and received a declaration of war against Imperial Japan on December 8. In the early stages of the Vietnam War, President Lyndon Johnson sought and received Congressional support for U.S. military action when Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution August 7, 1964, authorizing military action in Vietnam after North Vietnamese gunboats fired on two U.S. destroyers August 2. In the Gulf War, President Bush's father, the 41st President of the United States, following Iraq's Saddam Hussein invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, sought to expel Iraq's army from Kuwait, he obtained both Congressional and United Nations Security Council approval to use force against the Baghdad regime. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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