Mike Pence: “When the USS Maine was detonated in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, and the United States of America believed Spain to be…”

“When the USS Maine was detonated in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, and the United States of America believed Spain to be responsible, we did not pass a resolution in this body authorizing the use of force for a regime change in Spain. We declared war on Spain and we won. When Pearl Harbor was decimated through a dastardly attack by the imperial government and military of Japan, we did not pass a resolution authorizing a regime change in this Congress. We declared war on Japan. Now, in the wake of 9/11, when there is enormous circumstantial evidence to suggest complicity with al Qaeda and Iraq, we are about to debate a resolution authorizing military force for a regime change, seemingly unwilling to use the term 'declare war,' discharging our constitutional duty. Mr. Speaker, can a Nation that does not possess the courage to use a word possess the will to wage a war? If the facts are there to prove complicity with terrorism and al Qaeda, and even with 9/11, the nation of Iraq, let us do no less than our duty. Let us pass a resolution to declare war.”