Carl Levin Chairman Senate Armed Services Committee
Response to the President's Statement on Iraq
Monday, 7 October, 2002
WASHINGTON -- Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., issued the following statement following the President's statement on Iraq
tonight.
There is a consensus on the threat of the Saddam Hussein regime that the President described in detail tonight.
The best chance of forcing Saddam Hussein's compliance with his obligations to disarm is when he looks down the barrel
of a gun and sees the world at the other end and not just the United States.
The question which Congress is faced with is whether the United States should decide now it will "go it alone,'' to act
unilaterally against Iraq, at the same time we are trying to get from the United Nations a tough new resolution, which
authorizes member states to use military force to enforce the UN resolution.
The issue before us is on the one hand, whether we should focus on getting the world community to authorize the use of
force, or on the other hand, to take the United Nations off the hook by saying we will go it alone if they don't.
The President did not discuss this issue, which is the very issue the Congress will be voting on. He did not describe
the significant risks of going it alone without United Nations authority, although he seeks that "going alone''
authority in the resolution he is supporting and that is on the floor of the Senate.
ENDS