Political Quotes

“we have really already begun the debate on a resolution to authorize the use of force against Iraq if the President deems it necessary. Several Members have come to the Chamber and spoken about the issue. We are going to begin that debate formally sometime this evening, I believe, and it will continue on through Friday, Monday, and then shortly thereafter we will be voting on this important resolution. As with the debate 11 years ago when force was authorized and we repelled Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, Members of both bodies discussed the issue at a level, frankly, that we are unaccustomed to doing. When we are making a decision to send our young men and women into harm's way, when we are literally authorizing war, I think a degree of seriousness begins to pervade all of our thinking. We address these issues with the utmost of seriousness because we are aware of the consequences, and they deserve no less, and our constituents and our military deserve no less than that degree of consideration. When we debate this issue, we will find there are good arguments on both sides of the issue, and I realize there will be different nuances, so it is not as if there are just two sides to the debate. But at the end of the day, we are going to have the question before us: Are we going to authorize the use of force? There will be some alternatives before us.…”