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Press Photos | Speeches
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Press Release
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| MARCH 5, 2003 |
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SCHAKOWSKY:
UNITED STATES CAN
ASSERT ITS LEADERSHIP WITHOUT
THE TERRIBLE DESTRUCTION
OF A PREEMPTIVE ALL-OUT WAR IN IRAQ
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WASHINGTON,
D.C. -- Mr. Speaker, I came to the House floor because I felt that I needed
to come down here and speak before this body about my opposition to the
war that seems to be pending in Iraq.
I come to the floor today to say that war is not inevitable; that this
great Nation, whose power and hegemony is not disputed, can assert its
leadership without the terrible destruction of a preemptive all-out war.
I come to the floor today to pay tribute to the millions and millions of
everyday people all around the world, including throughout the United States,
who have expressed so clearly their conviction that a U.S.-led invasion
of Iraq is not the answer.
I come to pay tribute to the city of Chicago, one of about 100 U.S. cities
whose elected leaders, responding to their citizens, voted ``no'' to a
preemptive war. In Chicago it was by a vote of 46 to 1.
We are on the brink of the first war in history started by the United States
against a country that has not threatened violence against the United States.
We are on the brink of implementing a new policy of preemptive war, and
ushering in not a new world order but a world of unprecedented disorder.
Let us examine the facts: Iraq is led by a tyrannical dictator, one who
may have, who probably has, chemical and biological weapons; one who violates
human rights and oppresses his people; the same tyrannical dictator, by
the way, who was our ally in the 1980s when Iraq was at war with Iran;
the same dictator to whom we sent chemical and biological materials in
the eighties; the same dictator who we now charge with using chemical and
biological weapons, but at the time, the United States refused to support
a U.N. resolution condemning Iraq.
The same Saddam who was in place in 1998 when the Haliburton Company, led
by Vice President Dick Cheney, was doing business in Iraq. The same dictator
who has onerous characteristics that can be applied to many other countries,
many of which we call ally, friends and coalition partner. And can be applied
to countries like North Korea and Iran, who pose an even greater danger
to the United States.
So why Iraq and why now? I stand here today as a patriot and particularly
resentful, not only for myself, but all of my constituents who oppose this
war because we deeply love this country. But we believe that this war fails
to meet the threshold test. Will it make us citizens and residents of the
United States safer? Will it make the Middle East, and of particular concern
to me, Israel, safer? Will it make the world safer?
I say the answer is, and I feel in my heart, a resounding no.
The Central Intelligence Agency reports that Saddam is likely to use chemical
and biological weapons only if we attack. Saddam and Iraq had nothing to
do with September 11, or at the time, Osama bin Laden, despite desperate
attempts by this administration to link them. But an attack on Iraq now
could meld an unlikely coalition of terrorist organizations and fundamental
Muslim organizations that will be a real threat to the United States and
other countries around the globe.
Most importantly, we have real options to disarm Saddam Hussein. The way
this debate has been shaped is you are either for all-out war, or you are
for nothing and that could not be further from the truth.
Saddam Hussein must be disarmed and no one disagrees with that. And we
have a structure for doing that. The United Nations was set up for that,
is ready to do that and with the mighty leadership that the United States
could exert, can do an even better job to make sure that Saddam Hussein
who has, in fact, been violating resolutions, will comply now with disarmament.
We can be part of a large and growing coalition of civilized nations who
says that in this 21st century, where the technology allows for chemical
and biological and even nuclear weapons to proliferate around the globe,
and it will be hard given this century and this knowledge to stop that,
unless we have a coalition of civilized nations that will surround and
isolate rogue states and rogue nations.
We should lead in developing that coalition. We do not have to go to war
now. I say no war on behalf of my constituents and to this Congress. |
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