March 20, 2003

I want to associate myself with my colleagues in the Senate in expressing my admiration for the courage and professionalism of our U.S. service men and women who are now engaged in dangerous combat missions far away from home and loved ones. As is always the case, U.S. military personnel stand ready to obey the orders of the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States, to take up arms in defense of all Americans.

While there may have been debates in this body in previous days about many aspects of U.S. policy with respect to Iraq, no one has ever suggested that Saddam Hussein is anything but a cruel and murderous tyrant. There is no question that Saddam Hussein squandered multiple opportunities that the international community held out to him to peacefully dismantle his weapons of mass destruction - waiting until the last moment to order Iraqi officials to grudgingly cooperate with international inspectors.

Saddam has no one but himself to blame for what is about to befall him - he brought it upon himself. The tragedy is that others may have to suffer for his sins - although I am fully confident that U.S. military personnel will do everything feasible to minimize civilian casualties.

I regret that diplomacy was unable to achieve the peaceful disarmament of Iraq. I believe that President Bush does as well. But that is behind us now.

However, I still believe that it will be more necessary than ever to employ diplomacy in the coming days to forge an international coalition of friends, allies, and UN humanitarian organizations to share the costs and responsibility for rebuilding Iraq in the aftermath of war. I am confident that the President has already begun to work toward that end.

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