Arlen Specter: “I supported the use of force and the objective of deposing an authoritarian dictator who had committed brutal acts…”

“I supported the use of force and the objective of deposing an authoritarian dictator who had committed brutal acts against humanity, murdering tens of thousands, really hundreds of thousands, of his own people. Saddam Hussein conclusively had weapons of mass destruction in December of 1998, and there was never an explanation as to what he did with them. He had chemical weapons. He used them in the Iran-Iraq war. He used chemical weapons against the Kurds. He had bioterrorism. Now there are efforts to establish a democracy in Iraq and it is very difficult, admittedly, to secure law and order and maintain the peace there. The President is reaching out to other countries with the U.N. resolution, and I think the prospects are good that there will be a resolution.”