Nick Rahall: “None of us can look lightly nor politically upon the decision to send American men and women to war. This is a…”

“None of us can look lightly nor politically upon the decision to send American men and women to war. This is a resolution to grant one man unprecedented, unconstitutional, unprovoked, and unsupported power to start a war. As was the case 11 years ago, this vote has weighed heavily on my mind; but unlike 11 years ago, today we debate the issue within 30 days of political elections, versus 11 years ago, when we were in a rare January session after the elections and in a much calmer atmosphere. I supported President Herbert Walker Bush. The evidence back then was clear and convincing: Iraq had invaded a neighbor. The United States had strong international support which even helped us pay the costs of that war. Today, the situation is starkly different. Not only is the evidence circumstantial, at best; but we will have to pay our allies or cut them in on oil deals to buy either their silence or reluctant support for this war. These costs are on top of what President Bush's top economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, estimates to be a 100 to $200 billion cost of an invasion of Iraq, figures that are mind-boggling.”