Democrats in favor of Iraq strike in 1998
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
On Dec. 16, 1998, Bill Clinton informed the nation that he had ordered military action against Iraq. At least three times, Clinton referred to Iraq’s nuclear arms/nuclear program.
Clinton’s exact words: “Earlier today, I ordered America’s armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors.”
“Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas, or biological weapons.”
“And so we had to act now. Let me explain why. First, without a strong inspection system, Iraq would be free to retain and begin to rebuild its chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs in months, not years.”
The strike was wildly popular with most prominent Democrats at the time, including presidential candidates Gephart, Lieberman, and Kerry.
Kenneth Pollack, who was on Clinton’s national security staff, stated recently in The New York Times; “At no point before the war did the French, the Russians, the Chinese or any other country with an intelligence operation capable of collecting information in Iraq say it doubted that Baghdad was maintaining a clandestine weapons capability.”
The UN weapons inspectors reported repeatedly throughout the 1990s that Hussein had not disarmed. Last November, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin admitted, “The security of the Americans is under threat from people like Saddam Hussein who are capable of using chemical and biological weapons.”
We can’t find Jimmy Hoffa. It took years to catch the Unabomber. In an age when anthrax or a dirty nuke could be easily produced and deployed against us, it’s ludicrous to think Saddam completely disarmed during the four years the inspectors were absent from Iraq. |
