Jim Inhofe: “But that bill, of course, was vetoed by the President. And the President, in his veto message, said we do not need a…”

“But that bill, of course, was vetoed by the President. And the President, in his veto message, said we do not need a national missile defense system on the timeline we are talking about. He is talking about 15 years out in the future. I would ask the Senator, does he remember what Saddam Hussein said during the Persian Gulf war, when he stated that if he could have waited another 5 years, he would have had the missile technology to reach the United States, and that he would not have hesitated to use it? I think there should be no hesitation to conclude that some of the madmen around the world like Saddam Hussein would act the same way. Then, only 3 weeks ago, in an article in the New York Times, references were made to statements from top Chinese officials concerning direct missile threats on Taiwan. They indicated that they could make such threats with little concern about how the Americans would react because, they said, the Americans are more concerned about protecting Los Angeles than they are about protecting Taipei. When you get top officials talking like that, you get a sense of what we will be facing in the future. Let us just assume for a minute that maybe you are wrong. Maybe the Senator, who is very knowledgeable, the Senator from North Dakota, might be wrong. What are the consequences? I come from Oklahoma.…”