JOHN LINDER: “Not one Member of this body ran for election to go to war. We seek peace. But in the last century, America has spent the…”

“Not one Member of this body ran for election to go to war. We seek peace. But in the last century, America has spent the lives of our young men and women in major conflicts on five occasions on other shores to restore peace, and now war comes to us. We did not invite this, but we will not shirk from it. A band of thugs has visited upon this Nation and upon innocent American citizens death and destruction, the likes of which the world has never seen. It falls upon us to ensure that not only can it not succeed on our soil, but that it should not be tolerated in any corner of the globe. This resolution gives to our President the tools to begin a long and arduous campaign to end this terrorism. It will not end with the punishment of one man or group or even one nation sympathetic to their cause. It will end with a victory so brutal and decisive that no one or group, no matter how much they hate freedom, will dare to risk repeating the terror they have put the world through for the last 30 years. No nation state, no matter how much they hate America as the world's most conspicuous example of freedom, will find it in their nation's interest to attempt to surreptitiously support them. This will not be quick or easy, but this is a united Congress, this is a dedicated President, the American people are fully committed to our goal, and we will succeed.”