Lloyd Bentsen: “Mr. Speaker, last night in his address to the United States on the administration's policy towards Iraq, the President…”

“Mr. Speaker, last night in his address to the United States on the administration's policy towards Iraq, the President laid out his indictment of the Iraqi regime and particularly its leader, Saddam Hussein. In doing so, he answered a number of questions that Members of this body, as well as the American public, have raised regarding the administration's policies. While I will argue that I have few differences with the President on those issues with respect to the Iraqi regime's efforts to produce weapons of mass destruction and its efforts against its own people, even the tenuous, but troubling, allegations regarding its connections with al Qaeda, the President still did not answer a lot of questions and a lot of questions that have been raised on this floor. That is why I intend to support the substitute offered by the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt). As poignant as the President's speech was with respect to his indictment of Iraq, it lacked crucial substance with respect to the means by which the United States can achieve the containment and dismantling of the regime and its threat to the region and, ultimately, our Nation.”