Patrick Kennedy: “I voted for the resolution authorizing the forcible disarmament of Iraq, and I continue to agree with the President of…”

“I voted for the resolution authorizing the forcible disarmament of Iraq, and I continue to agree with the President of the United States that we should disarm Iraq by force, if necessary, in order to protect American lives. But I also recognize that if we go to war right now, the war will have little legitimacy in the eyes of the world community, and that increases the risks. I, therefore, believe that it is in our security interests to support Great Britain's latest proposal to establish specific unambiguous disarmament benchmarks and a firm deadline. Failure to comply with all requirements would trigger military action without further debate. If Iraq does comply, we would have achieved our aims without the need for war, everybody's first choice. If Iraq again fails to meet its obligations, our good-faith effort will have helped restore some of the U.S.'s lost credibility, thereby strengthening the coalition supporting the war as well as improving our ability to prosecute the war on terrorism, as well as decreasing the risk and cost of rebuilding Iraq after a conflict. I urge my colleagues to support this reasonable approach to the crisis.”