Political Quotes

“Madam President, when the Constitution was written, there were some fundamental principles which were included, and one of them said that any declaration of war in the United States had to have the approval of the American people through their elected representatives in Congress. It was an awesome responsibility and an important one. I think it was the right responsibility given to the people through their elected representatives. After World War II, there were several engagements by the American military without such declaration of war. Those were, of course, controversial and debated, but I am sure you recall and I do, too, October of the year 2002, when this Senate was called on, with the House of Representatives, to consider the invasion of Iraq and the authorization of use of military force for that purpose. We may have forgotten by now, 20 years later, but I remember very vividly the fearsome national debate over whether this Nation, having been hit by 9/11, needed to invade Iraq. The rationale was weapons of mass destruction were present in Iraq, threatening not only nations in the Middle East, which were our friends and allies, but even threatening the United States of America. That threat, weapons of mass destruction, was beaten into our heads day after day. But many of us were skeptical, and the vote came on the floor of the Senate, I recall, in October of 2002. It happened late at night.…”