QandO

January 21, 2004

Ted Kennedy
Posted by Jon Henke

Well, whatever else I may have disliked about the State of the Union last night, at least it annoyed Ted Kennedy. That's something. Specifically, we saw Kennedy shaking his head when Bush said "Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day."

Actually, he shook his head at quite a lot of things Bush said last night. Funny, though, because Bush pursued exactly the course for which Kennedy argued in September of 2002. In fact, he made a lot of arguments that day in September that don't bear a great resemblance to the claims he makes today.....

In this serious time for America and many American families, no one should poison the public square by attacking the patriotism of opponents, or by assailing proponents as more interested in the cause of politics than in the merits of their cause. I reject this, as should we all.

So, at the SOTU, Kennedy just couldn't take it any longer. It distressed him when Bush said.....

There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein's regime is a serious danger, that he is a tyrant, and that his pursuit of lethal weapons of mass destruction cannot be tolerated. He must be disarmed.

We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.

Of course, one of Kennedy's major claims has been that the Bush administration misled us about what would happen after we went in, as when Bush gave us this litany of bad predictions....

But when Iraq's survival is at stake, it is more likely that they will fight to the end. Saddam and his military may well abandon the desert, retreat to Baghdad, and engage in urban, guerilla warfare.
...
General Hoar said that our military would have to be prepared to fight block by block in Baghdad, and that we could lose a battalion of soldiers a day in casualties. Urban fighting would, he said, look like the last brutal 15 minutes of the movie "Saving Private Ryan."
....
This escalation, spiraling out of control, could draw the Arab world into a regional war in which our Arab allies side with Iraq, against the United States and against Israel.

So, how did Kennedy recommend we avoid this "fraudulent war"?

The resolution should also require the head of the UN inspection team to report to the Security Council every two weeks. No delaying tactics should be tolerated – and if they occur, Saddam should know that he will lose his last chance to avoid war.

The Security Council Resolution should authorize the use of force, if the inspection process in unsatisfactory. And there should be no doubt in Baghdad that the United States Congress would then be prepared to authorize force as well.

And as Bush said, non-UN war was an option.....

Clearly we must halt Saddam Hussein's quest for weapons of mass destruction. Yes, we may reach the point where our only choice is conflict – with like-minded allies at our side, if not in a multilateral action authorized by the Security Council.

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