Frank Pallone: “President Bush continues to strongly suggest that America will go to war against Iraq without the support of the United…”

“President Bush continues to strongly suggest that America will go to war against Iraq without the support of the United Nations or a significant number of our traditional European allies. Following his lead, many Americans, as well as media commentators, have become critical of the United Nations and the member nations of the Security Council that have expressed opposition to U.S. military action at this time. My concern, Mr. Speaker, is that the United States is needlessly losing the world opinion war with dangerous implications for the real war against Iraq or, even worse, for the larger war against terrorism. I voted against the congressional resolution that authorized unilateral U.S. military action against Iraq in part because of my fear that President Bush would have less incentive to create the type of world coalition that was so successful in the Gulf War. We tend to forget that the Gulf War was successful in many ways beyond the mere fact that the U.S. liberated Kuwait. The coalition of support meant that many countries provided manpower, money, and the political support that made U.S. actions justified in world opinions, even in Muslim countries. The situation, Mr. Speaker, we now face with Iraq is very different. The logistics to carry out the war may suffer from the inability to utilize bases or air flight over countries that were previously supportive in the Gulf War. The cost of the war will be borne almost entirely by the United States.”