Chris Smith: “Madam Speaker, President Bush has made, I believe, an extraordinarily convincing case that the Iraqi dictatorship poses…”

“Madam Speaker, President Bush has made, I believe, an extraordinarily convincing case that the Iraqi dictatorship poses a significant, lethal threat to the people of the United States, our allies, and to the tens of millions of people living in the region of the Middle East. Saddam Hussein's dark obsession with acquiring, developing, stockpiling, and using weapons of mass destruction can no longer be ignored, wished away, or trivialized. In the past, Hussein has used weapons of mass destruction, killing thousands of people, mostly Kurds, in the late 1980s. If not disarmed, pursuant to the terms and conditions that ended the Gulf War and all subsequent U.N. resolutions, he will likely use them again at the place and time of his choosing. Madam Speaker, the loss of human life as a result of the hideous effects of these weapons cannot even be imagined. In like manner, the environmental and economic consequences would be staggering and possibly earth changing.”