Joe Lieberman: “I rise to oppose, respectfully, the amendment introduced by the Senator from Illinois. The underlying resolution…”

“I rise to oppose, respectfully, the amendment introduced by the Senator from Illinois. The underlying resolution, building on 11 years in which the world community has tried every way imaginable, except war, to get Saddam Hussein to keep the promises he made at the end the gulf war to disarm, is a strong resolution. This amendment would diminish it, and in that sense it would also diminish its effectiveness to convince the United Nations to act so we do not have to form our own international coalition. In two regards, it also diminishes the authority of the Commander in Chief, as granted by our resolution, and does so in a way that is far more restrictive than most any authorizing resolution for war or military action that I have seen before. First, it introduces the word 'imminent' in place of the words 'continuing threat.' We say in our resolution that the President may use the Armed Forces of the United States in order to defend the national security of our country against the continuing threat posed by Iraq. The Durbin amendment would change that to the imminent threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. In changing it to 'imminent,' which is a temporal term--it suggests time, that something is about to happen soon--it adds a qualification that I think is unwarranted.”