08 October 2002
Transcript: Powell Sees Strong Support in Congress for Iraq Resolution
(Says resolution will strengthen his hand in negotiations with U.N.) (1880) Secretary of State Colin Powell said he expects the U.S. Congress to pass a resolution with overwhelming bipartisan support endorsing the Bush administration's diplomatic work with the United Nations to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. "It's a resolution that I think will draw very, very solid, strong, overwhelming bipartisan and bicameral support. It's a resolution that will definitely strengthen my hand as I try to do the diplomatic work up in New York to get a U.N. Security Council resolution," Powell said October 8 after conferring with the Senate of the resolution. "[T]he one thing that cannot be tolerated is that Iraq continues to have weapons of mass destruction. Iraq will be disarmed one way or another," Powell added. Powell made his comments in the presence of Senators Wayne Allard, John Warner and John McCain of the Republican Party and Evan Bayh and Joseph Lieberman of the Democratic Party, who support the resolution. McCain stressed the importance of congressional debate and cooperation with the United Nations to generate a consensus in dealing with Iraq. "Then the American people will be confident that we have taken every step necessary to build consensus and have done everything we can to avoid conflict if that occasion should arise," McCain said. Bayh said the resolution reflects the lessons learned on September 11, 2001. "I would say that we support this resolution because of the lessons learned on September the 11th, the principal one being that we waited too long to deal with a gathering threat in Afghanistan. And because of that delay, 3,000 innocent Americans lost their lives. We must not make that mistake again," Bayh said. Following is the transcript of the press conference by Powell and the five senators: (begin transcript) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman Remarks By Secretary of State Colin L. Powell To Members of the Press Capitol Hill October 8, 2002 Washington, D.C. SECRETARY POWELL: Ladies and gentlemen it is my pleasure to be here this afternoon to meet with Senator Lieberman, Senator Warner, Senator Buchanan, Senator Bayh, and also joined by Senator Allard to express my appreciation for the fine work they have done in moving this resolution forward. It is a resolution that I think will grow very, very solid and strong, overwhelming bipartisan and bicameral support. It is a resolution that will definitely strengthen my hand as I try to do the diplomatic work up in New York to get a UN Security Council resolution. I think the resolution is timely, and we need it now. We need it now because the President has laid the challenge squarely before the world and then again last night squarely before the American people. We are faced with a dangerous situation. We are faced with a regime, which has ignored UN resolutions for many years and will continue to ignore them unless they are dealt with now. The President has said he is not looking for war. He has given the United Nations an opportunity to find a peaceful solution. He has given Iraq an opportunity to find a peaceful solution. But the one thing that cannot be tolerated is that Iraq continues to have weapons of mass destruction. Iraq will be disarmed one way or the other. All of my colleagues at the United Nations and others I have spoken to around the world clearly see the threat. I think there is increasing support for a UN resolution, which puts in place a much stronger inspection mandate, and I think there is mutual understanding of the fact that the only reason Iraq is trying to respond now is because the threat of force is there. We have to keep that in place. We have to make sure they understand there are consequences if the fail to act this time. So our strategy is straightforward and our strategy, frankly, requires the kind of strong resolution that is now being debated on both the House floor and the Senate floor. I want to express once again my thanks to the gentleman who are here with me this afternoon and all the others in the Congress who are supporting the resolution, a resolution that was discussed with the leadership. The President put forward some ideas. Some ideas came back, and now we are all unified behind this resolution, and I am sure it will win overwhelming support in both the House and Senate. Thank you very much. SENATOR LIEBERMAN: Very briefly, thanks to Secretary Powell for the opportunity to meet with him, for the strong leadership he has given America's cause and the world's cause in the diplomacy at the United Nations and the capitals around the world. I think Secretary Powell's diplomatic leadership punctuates the point that all four of us co-sponsors of this urgent issue have made repeatedly, including this morning on the floor and that the President made last night in his remarks in Cincinnati: War is the last resort. But over the last 11 years, the world community has tried just about everything else to get Saddam Hussein to keep the promise to disarm that he made to achieve the end of the Gulf War. We've tried inspections; we've tried sanctions; we've tried oil-for-food; we've tried limited military action, and they haven't worked. That is why in this resolution we are essentially authorizing the President, and hopefully the United Nations, to say to Saddam Hussein, "Disarm or we will be forced to make war against you to achieve the disarmament that you promised at the end of the Gulf War" Mr. Secretary, I want to say to you that we have offered the bipartisan resolution that we negotiated with the Administration this morning in the Senate. We're having a very good, thoughtful debate as befits a matter of life and death, literally. But I want to express to you what I believe is the opinion of my colleagues here: our confidence that, when the roll is called on this bipartisan resolution, there will be overwhelming bipartisan support to give the President as Commander-in-Chief the authority that we believe he needs to protect America's interests. Thank you very much. SENATOR WARNER: We are proud to have our Secretary here. He has done noble work before the United Nations. And we discussed the optimism that I believe you now hold, Mr. Secretary. Senator Bayh, will you say a word or two? SENATOR BAYH: I'd make three brief points. First, we support this resolution, not because we favor war, but because we believe this offers our best hope of maintaining the peace. Secondly, we support this resolution not because we prefer that America act alone, but because this resolution gives us the best opportunity to rally our allies together with the support of the United Nations in a course of action we believe to be justifiable. Finally, I would say that we support this resolution because of the lessons learned on September the 11th, the principal one being that we waited too long to deal with the gathering threat in Afghanistan. And because of that delay, 3,000 innocent Americans lost their lives. We must not make that mistake again. All the arguments being offered against this resolution would have been made if we had recommended taking action against Afghanistan two years ago. Those arguments would have wrong then; they are wrong today. So I'm pleased to join with my colleagues on a bipartisan basis and the leadership of the Administration in supporting this resolution because it's in the best interest of the American people. SENATOR MCCAIN: It's very important to the American people that we go through this process -- the process of debate, and a resolution of approval on the part of both Houses of Congress, which as my colleagues said, will be overwhelming. They also expect the Secretary of State to do his job, which he is doing in an outstanding fashion with the United Nations to get a resolution from the Security Council. Then the American people will be confident that we have taken every step necessary to build a consensus and have done everything we can to avoid conflict if that occasion should arise. They will be confident that we've done everything we can to avoid a war, but at the same time, if the president has to take military action, he will have the support of the American people and the United Nations. QUESTION: Secretary Powell, Senator Graham (inaudible) to give the President more authority on the question of Iraq? What is the Administration's position? SECRETARY POWELL: I think we are going to stay with the position that we have taken all along, an agreement we have reached with the House and Senate. This resolution gives the President the authority that he needs. He is not looking in this resolution to go into new areas. (Inaudible) this is the way to go about this, focusing on this particular issue, and I think we will get the support we need. What I am interested in seeing is solid, overwhelming support for the signal of American determination, and I think that the resolution in its current form is just what we need. So if both Houses do the same thing -- I know there will be no other idea (inaudible) stick with this resolution, and everybody rally with it to get a large vote in from both Houses (inaudible) it gives us what we need to go forward with the international community to show unity of purpose among the American people. QUESTION: Is there a message, Mr. Secretary that you sent inside that room just now at lunch to try to get more support for the resolution? SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we haven't had lunch yet so -- QUESTION: -- said the food was lousy. (Laughter.) QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, are you worried about (inaudible) situation (inaudible) war (inaudible) would that be a strong argument (inaudible)? SECRETARY POWELL: My impression from watching some of the debate on television earlier and from what I have heard is that I think it will be a good, sharp debate, but I think if it is concluded in time that we are not (inaudible) and that is my hope (inaudible). QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, respectfully, what message are you bringing to the Senators? Are you trying to reassure people or -- SECRETARY POWELL: The importance of this resolution -- and I want to reassure the American people that the American Government, neither the President nor the Congress, is leaping into something without thinking. That is why we need this kind of debate. That is why it was very useful to have a discussion about what the resolution should look like. And we have come up, I think now, with a resolution that serves our intended purpose. So the message to the American people is war is a last resort, but we have seen what happens if you are not prepared to go to war: you will get this kind of violation of international law. We cannot let Saddam Hussein walk away this time without there being consequences for continued violation of international obligations. As the President has said, we will not turn away from this challenge, we will not ignore this problem; it has to be dealt with and it's going to be dealt with now, one way or the other. Thank you. (end transcript) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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