Sam Brownback: “as Senator Byrd mentioned, we have serious issues to contemplate concerning Iraq. This is a country we have had conflict…”

“as Senator Byrd mentioned, we have serious issues to contemplate concerning Iraq. This is a country we have had conflict with before, a country that has weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has been at war with itself and its neighbors for 22 of the 23 years that Saddam Hussein has ruled that country. The people of Iraq have not known peace under Saddam Hussein. History reveals repression at home is often the breeding ground for outside aggression. Iraq is certainly a case in point. There has been no peace in Iraq since Saddam Hussein came to power more than two decades ago. First, he declared war on Iran, a war that lasted nearly a decade. He then declared war on the Iraq Kurdish population in the north. He even used chemical weapons against them in his pursuit of total and absolute control of Iraq. After the war with the Kurds, he declared war on Kuwait, calling Kuwait an integral part of Iraq. Since his defeat at the hands of the U.S.-led coalition, Saddam has spent the past decade defying the United Nations and the United Nations imposed agreements and building weapons of mass destruction to use against his next victims. History has also shown that authoritarian dictators do not successfully become integrated into civilized society. On the contrary, they seek any and all means to pursue their goals and perceive any positive overtures towards them as acts of weakness on the part of their adversaries.”