Joe Pitts: “last night the President gave a well-thought-out speech about Saddam Hussein and the dangerous regime he has built in…”

“last night the President gave a well-thought-out speech about Saddam Hussein and the dangerous regime he has built in Iraq. I do not think there is any doubt that Iraq poses a danger to the world, to the United States, to the region, to its own citizens. But what occurs to me is that in the past year there have been some on the other side of the aisle who have repeatedly asked why the President was not able to prevent September 11; why did the FBI and the CIA not focus more on the threats of hijackings; why did the FBI and CIA not coordinate better; could September 11 not have been prevented? Well, now we have another threat. Saddam Hussein hates us enough to kill. He has weapons of mass destruction. He has shown a willingness to use those weapons. He thwarts U.N. inspections while he seeks to develop nuclear weapons. We have a known threat and the opportunity to do something about it. Mr. Speaker, those who have been critical of our inability to prevent September 11 have a special opportunity to see to it that we prevent the next threat. The next threat is Iraq.”