John Conyers: “I begin with a review of the duties that we have. First I pray for our soldiers whose roles are pretty well defined, and…”

“I begin with a review of the duties that we have. First I pray for our soldiers whose roles are pretty well defined, and I would like to point out that we in the Congress have a duty as well, a constitutional duty, that requires under the Constitution that we alone can decide war. And why is that? Because of Article I, section 8. It is important for us to note that this duty is nondelegable. We cannot pass it off. We cannot turn it back. It can only be done by us. So the question of who decides becomes very important. On this past Monday, the President of the United States said he has decided that he will begin this war, and that this is a matter that did not require him to consult with Congress, that there was no debate in the Congress, that it was a matter that he has been telling us in innumerable ways on innumerable occasions precisely what he was going to do, and that Saddam Hussein's time has run out, and there are no more options, and that negotiations are futile, and that the United Nations can do what they want, that everybody has to decide in the family of nations, that they are either with us or against us, and that it does not matter whether the inspection regime required by the United Nations has been concluded or not.”