Adam Schiff: “tonight we authorize the President to use all necessary and appropriate military force against any nation, organization…”

“tonight we authorize the President to use all necessary and appropriate military force against any nation, organization or person responsible for the terrible attacks of September 11, or anyone who harbors such individuals. Make no mistake; it is a broad delegation of authority to make war on those who have attacked us. We do not do so lightly or without consideration for the weighty consequences of our act. After the attacks of this week, many Americans recalled Pearl Harbor. I thought of the Battle of Britain and Hitler's indiscriminate bombings of London, Churchill's words still so powerfully resonant: ``He hopes by killing so many numbers of civilians and women and children that he will terrorize and cow the people of this mighty imperial city. Little does he know the spirit of the British nation or the tough fiber of the Londoners who have been bred to value freedom above their own lives.'' So true of America. Little do these petty tyrants and murderers know the spirit of the American people or the tough fiber of the New Yorkers, our defense workers, or the civilians who spared further casualties by taking down the hijackers and their own plane over Pennsylvania. The face of this tyrant is new and yet not so new. Like others before him, he abhors a free society and democratic institutions. He is willing to kill innocent men, women and children to further his perverse aims. There are no means too inhuman, no tactic too appalling to further his end.”