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“Nothing
would please this president more than having such a blank check
handed to him.”
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CHARLESTON,
West Virginia, September 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The
Democratic Senator of West Virginia said that President George W.
Bush’s plans to invade Iraq are a conscious effort to distract public
attention from growing problems at home, a local newspaper in Virginia
reported Saturday, September 21.
The
Charleston Gazette, established in 1873,
quoted Senator Robert C. Byrd saying: “This
administration, all of a sudden, wants to go to war with Iraq. The
[political] polls are dropping, the domestic situation has problems....
So all of a sudden we have this war talk, war fervor, the bugles of war,
drums of war, clouds of war.”
“Don’t
tell me that things suddenly went wrong. Back in August, the president
had no plans.... Then all of a sudden this country is going to war,”
Byrd told the Senate on Friday, the paper reported.
“Are
politicians talking about the domestic situation, the stock market,
weaknesses in the economy, jobs that are being lost, housing problems?
No.”
Byrd
warned of another Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Passed on August 7, 1964,
that resolution handed President Lyndon Johnson broad powers to escalate
the war in Vietnam, a conflict that cost 58,202 American lives and
millions of Asian lives, said the Gazette.
“Congress
will be putting itself on the sidelines,” Byrd told the Senate.
“Nothing would please this president more than having such a blank
check handed to him.”
Byrd
said his belief in the Constitution will prevent him from voting for
Bush’s war resolution. “But I am finding that the Constitution is
irrelevant to people of this administration,” the paper reported.
After
he spoke, a number of senators including Democratic Senator from
Florida, Bill Nelson and Democratic Senator from New York praised his
speech, reported the Gazette.
“It
is the height of patriotism to ask such hard questions. No one
exemplifies that more than the senior senator from West Virginia,”
Clinton said, the Gazette added.
Byrd
said, “Before the nation is committed to war, before we send our sons
and daughters to battle in faraway lands, there are critical questions
that must be asked. To date, the answers from the administration have
been less than satisfying.”
Byrd
repeatedly said Bush has failed to give members of Congress any evidence
about any immediate danger from Iraq. Byrd also criticized his speech to
the United Nations.
According
to the Gazette, Byrd said Congress needs solid evidence and
answers to several specific questions, including:
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Does Saddam Hussein pose an imminent threat to the U.S.?
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Should the United States act alone?
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What would be the repercussions in the Middle East and around the globe?
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How many civilians would die in Iraq?
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How many American forces would be involved?
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How do we afford this war?
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Will the U.S. respond with nuclear weapons if Saddam Hussein uses
chemical or biological weapons against U.S. soldiers?
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Does the U.S. have enough military and intelligence resources to fight
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while mobilizing resources to prevent
attacks on our own shores?
Byrd
said the proposed resolution Bush sent Congress on Thursday would be the
“broadest possible grant of war powers to any president in the history
of our Republic. The resolution is a direct insult and an affront to the
powers given to Congress,” reported the paper.
Byrd
also criticized Bush’s request for power to carry out “pre-emptive
attacks” and send troops to Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, the
West Bank and anywhere else in the Middle East, said the Gazette.
“I
cannot believe the gall and the arrogance of the White House in
requesting such a broad grant of war powers,” Byrd said. “This is
the worst kind of election-year politics.”
