Dana Rohrabacher: “first of all, I do not know where the gentleman got his information that Saddam Hussein was an ally; a close ally, the…”

“first of all, I do not know where the gentleman got his information that Saddam Hussein was an ally; a close ally, the gentleman says, of the United States. I am sorry that I was in the White House at the time. Saddam Hussein was never a close ally. He was not an enemy, but to label him a close ally is not only misreading history, it is naivete beyond anything. We supplied some support for the Iraqis and sometimes we gave support for the Iranians during that war because during that time there was a strategy of keeping that war going in order to prevent those two powers from themselves individually dominating the region. Having them attack each other was a good strategy at that time, but far from being an Iraqi ally. Saddam Hussein is obviously someone that right now, after we have already gone through this, our futures are linked. If Saddam Hussein ends up negating the results of the last war, who will then listen to us anywhere in the world? I pose that question to both of my colleagues. If he is able to have a lightning strike against Kuwait or stockpile these nuclear weapons, who will believe the United States again after we have made this commitment?”