Howard Berman: “I simply want to address a few of the comments of my friends and colleagues who have spoken before me. The gentleman…”

“I simply want to address a few of the comments of my friends and colleagues who have spoken before me. The gentleman from Massachusetts and others, the gentleman from Ohio, argue that this is a resolution authorizing the unilateral use of force, and that is why they are against it. Literally, they are correct. A strict reading of the resolution makes that clear. However, it fails to put into context what we are trying to do. Everyone knows that multilateral is better than unilateral. Everyone knows that approval by the Security Council for the use of force is better than not having approval for the use of force by the Security Council. It is the passage of this resolution, the strong statement by the Congress of the United States that we stand with the administration in the effort to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction, that maximizes the diplomatic and political chances of achieving the broadest possible multilateral support for a meaningful disarming resolution out of the United Nations, another resolution and, if necessary, and it may very well be, the right to use force on a multilateral basis.”