Haley Stevens: “I am delighted to have an opportunity to debate with the Senator from Illinois because I listened to the comments he…”

“I am delighted to have an opportunity to debate with the Senator from Illinois because I listened to the comments he made before, comments I violently disagree with. For instance, in 1998, President Clinton went before the general officers of this Nation, officers from all of our units of the military, and he told them he believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. He laid down a just challenge to Saddam Hussein to come forward and disclose them or he believed he might have to go into Iraq himself. That seems to be forgotten. Apparently, the Senator from Illinois didn't hear the Vice President when he mentioned Mr. Zarqawi last night, a man who was in Iraq before even the problems of Afghanistan who was operating there. He is back there now. He had operated in Afghanistan and Pakistan, was part of the bad guys there. Now we know he is back in Iraq again. He is mentioned as being one of the senior contacts within the al-Qaida organization that was there before and came back again now. The Vice President has mentioned the contacts that existed in the al-Qaida world in Iraq. I still believe he was right. There is no question about it. There was a portion of the terrorist organization in Iraq before, and they are back there now. As far as the weapons of mass destruction, I believe at the time we had seen the briefings--and I am one of the eight in the Congress who received the same briefings the President of the United States got about Iraq.”