Rob Andrews: “in October 2002, I voted to authorize the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein, and I would again. I think it was the…”

“in October 2002, I voted to authorize the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein, and I would again. I think it was the right decision for this country. I agree with the resolution statement that the world is safer with the removal of this leader from Baghdad; I believe it is. And the succession of changes that we have seen in Syria, Libya, and Iran are evidence of that. I went to Iraq in January and saw young people serving this country in uniform and the leadership that they showed us, and I was so proud of them. They have never let us down. I think today with this resolution we are letting them down. Leadership is about unifying people; it is about healing wounds; it is about bringing people together. There are many patriotic Members of this body who in good faith believe the world is not safer because Saddam Hussein is gone. I respectfully disagree with them, but we should have been able to come together today on the first anniversary of the initiation of hostilities and focus on the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines and the guardsmen, and we should have been able to focus on what we agree on; and what we agree on is we respect their service, we mourn the loss of our dead, we are ready to heal those who have come home wounded, and then we are ready to debate the foreign policy of this country as to how we should go forward. We have let our troops down by this resolution, and it is a shame.”