Comments Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
Friday, Sept. 20, 2002

Draft War Resolution On Iraq
Is Overly Broad And Premature

I hope this is the beginning of a consultative, bipartisan process to produce a sensible resolution and to act on it at the appropriate time.  I commend the President for deciding to work with the Congress and with other nations on this critical issue. 

Declaring war or authorizing the use of force is the single most important responsibility given to Congress under the Constitution.  No Congress should pass a blank check and let any administration fill in the amount later.  The resolution proposed by the Administration is overly broad, makes no mention of the efforts to build an international coalition at the United Nations, and is premature.

The negotiations at the United Nations are still ongoing, and we do not know what type of military action the Administration wants to take, or what costs and risks to our national interests are involved.  At this point there do not seem to be answers to even basic questions about the conditions that would trigger warfare.  The draft language is so open-ended that it could authorize anything from backing up weapons inspectors to a unilateral attack, and beyond.

In undertaking operations against Iraq, we must be careful not to undermine our most important national security priority, which is defeating al Queda and other international terrorist organizations.  As former senior military officers have warned, a precipitous, unilateral attack could undermine these efforts.

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