Wendy Sherman: “last night the President somewhat vaguely announced the right policy for this country: to invade Iraq only if…”

“last night the President somewhat vaguely announced the right policy for this country: to invade Iraq only if unrestricted inspections are not available. This gives us a chance to disarm Iraq without war; but if war becomes necessary, at least the fact that we struggled to avoid it will minimize foreign opposition. Unfortunately, the Resolution before us is far more vague than the President's speech. It allows for an invasion even if Saddam completely capitulates on the issue of inspections. Unfortunately, the Rule does not make in order a resolution limited to the President's rhetoric. So if we want to authorize force if inspections are not allowed, the Rule requires us to give the President a blank check. On a completely different issue, I would like to point out that during the 1980s we did provide dual-use material to Iraq that could have been used to wage conventional war, but there is no evidence that we knowingly provided material to Iraq that could be used to conduct biological or chemical warfare.”