Biden was exactly on point in this statement. His warnings and advice are valuable. Bolded portion speaks to numbers.
Floor Statement by U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Expressing Gratitude Of United States To Nations
Participation In Coalition To Disarm Iraq
March 27, 2003
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise to join my colleague, the chairman of the committee, in support of S. Con. Res. 30, which commends and expresses the gratitude of the United States to the other nations participating with us in the Coalition to Disarm Iraq. The American people and this Congress stand with our Commander in Chief and behind our men and women in uniform. It is their responsibility, and the Commander in Chief's, to prosecute this war in Iraq, but it is our responsibility to give them the support they need and deserve.
There may be difficult days ahead, but I am confident of the extraordinary skill and ultimate success of our endeavor. As we gather here today, the sons and daughters of four countries--the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, and Denmark--are fighting alongside our troops. Our purpose today is to thank them from the bottom of our hearts for the courage they are demonstrating.
It is to tell their families and loved ones of our gratitude for their sacrifice and to express to their leaders our profound admiration for their determination to join other nations, including ours, in a common and just cause.
Several dozen nations are supporting this coalition in other ways--politically, diplomatically, and strategically. They, too, have our deep appreciation. The Senator from Indiana has read the names of those nations.
Let me say a word to the leaders and the people from friendly countries and allies who do not support our effort to disarm Saddam Hussein's regime. This Senator and many others disagree profoundly with the choices they have made. But this Senator, at least, respects--equally profoundly--that that choice is the right of a sovereign nation to make, to differ with us.
I think it is time that we move beyond the finger-pointing and recriminations that have been flying across the Atlantic and around the world. We need one another. We will need one another in other endeavors. It is time to, again, heal the differences. We could not come together in war, but we are going to have to come together in peace.
This resolution expresses that hope. By its words, it ``welcomes and encourages the active involvement of [the countries in this coalition], other nations, and key international organizations in the reconstruction and civil administration of Iraq after the conflict.''
When this war ends--hopefully, that will be soon--we will face a tremendous responsibility and an equally important opportunity in terms of Iraq's future. Even as our thoughts and prayers are with our President, our troops, and our allies, we need to think about and act on that future now.
Why is this so important? I believe it is important because it is profoundly against the interests of the United States to be left the sole responsibility for Iraq. As my friend, and the friends of many here, Tom Friedman, has put it: We may have to rent this country for a time; but it is not our desire to own it.
There are three reasons for that:
First, it will cost tens of billions of dollars and take years to rebuild an Iraq that is secure, whole, free, and governed by its own people. We should not bear that burden or responsibility alone.
Second, an indefinite American military occupation of Iraq would fuel resentment throughout the Middle East, bolster al-Qaida's recruitment, and make Americans a target for malcontents everywhere. We need to make the peace in Iraq the world's responsibility, not just our own.
Third, failure to engage the U.N. and as many countries as possible in post-Saddam Iraq would miss an opportunity to repair the damage that has been done to the U.N., to our alliances, and international cooperation--all of which we will need to win the war against terrorism, to contend with North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs, to slow the spread of weapons of mass destruction, to deal with outbreaks of disease, and to contend with so many other threats that have no respect for borders.
I hope the administration will spare no effort in securing the sanction of the United Nations for everything that will have to be done to keep the peace in Iraq after the war, to provide humanitarian aid, to rebuild the country, and to help put Iraq back into the hands of its own people.
By gaining the U.N.'s approval, we would help political leaders around the world whose people oppose the war justify their participation--including financial participation--in building the peace. It has not been lost on any of our colleagues in the last several days of debate, nor upon our fellow Americans; it is dawning on them that in the last gulf war, we paid between 17 and 20 percent of the cost of the war. For this gulf war, we are lucky to pay the totality of the bill--if not 100 percent, very close to it. The meter is just beginning to run. The chairman of the committee and I have held hearings over the last 10 months on this issue. We don't have any firm number, but we have estimates that it is going to cost--after we win--anywhere from $19 billion a year to numbers well in excess of that. It is in our interest--our direct interest--that other nations participate in making Iraq secure.
By gaining U.N. approval, as I said, we would help the political leaders around the world who know that is in their interest as well--whose people oppose the war--to justify their participation, including financial participation. And we would demonstrate a U.S. commitment to rebuild ties to the U.N., which will be important in our long-term security.
I personally think Kosovo provides a powerful precedent for such a course of action. In Kosovo, we chose not to pursue a use of force resolution at the U.N. that we knew Russia would veto. I was in this Chamber urging that we bypass the U.N. and go directly to a coalition of the willing--in this case, the EU and NATO--to gain support for what many of us here strongly believed was in the interest of the United States, the interest of Europe, and in the humanitarian interests of hundreds of thousands of people. We moved.
But even before the first bombs fell, we worked closely with the Security Council on an agreement to put the U.N. and other countries front and center in Kosovo for humanitarian aid and civil authority once the peace was made. As a result, we did not have to build the peace alone. Our motives were not questioned alone, and we did not bear the costs alone. Evidence the fact that we were carrying roughly 15 percent of the freight, 15 percent of the personnel, after Milosevic was defeated.
Read rest of the statement here.
Too bad he was not heeded.
foreign.senate.gov
Rascal @HowObvious.com |
