Masonry Magazine July 2003 Page. 10
Government Affairs
Saluting our Men and
Women in Uniform on
a Job Well Done
▼Senator John W. Warner
In the recent war in Iraq, I am proud
of the way our brave men and women in
uniform performed. They liberated a
country that had been under the grip of
a dictatorship for decades. Their mission
was just and their accomplishments were
remarkable. From the historic liberation
of Baghdad to the humanitarian assis-
tance they are now bringing to the Iraqi
people, our military forces have per-
formed brilliantly.
The rebuilding of Iraq will not be easy.
Iraq's people have lived under tyranny for
so long and have very little experience with
democracy. Recently, I met with Ambas-
sador Paul Bremer, our country's point
man in the renewal of Iraq. Ambassador
Bremer and I have known each other for
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many years and worked together on the
Incidents at Sea Agreement with the Sovi-
et Union in 1972. He is a man of enor-
mous capabilities and character, and will
surely make our nation proud as he helps
guide Iraq into a new era.
While Ambassador Bremer and his
team work with our troops to bring stabili-
ty to Iraq, our forces elsewhere in the region
and
around the globe continue to confront
the terrorism that threatens America and
the world. I am enormously proud of our
military and their leaders who have fash-
ioned a force unlike any the world has ever
known, a force capable of delivering over-
whelming might anytime, anywhere, if nec
essary, to keep America secure.
Several months ago, several of my Sen-
ate colleagues and I were privileged to visit
our troops in the Persian Gulf region,
Qatar, Kuwait and other areas. Our forces
are extremely disciplined, flexible enough
to win decisively in combat operations,
and, now, to help the Iraqis meet their
people's humanitarian and security needs.
I was extremely pleased by the careful
and considered way in which the President
initiated the action against Iraq. A decision
to commit our sons and daughters to
combat is never an easy one. Clearly, our
President took a great deal of time before
deciding this March to use military force. I
was privileged to meet with him along
with the Congressional leadership several
days before the start of the conflict. Presi-
dent Bush showed steadfastness, courage.
wisdom, and very balanced thinking as he
approached his decision.
The Congressional decision to autho
rize the use of force against Iraq last Octo-
ber was equally measured. We took our
constitutional responsibility seriously,
I was extremely pleased
by the careful and considered
way in which the President
initiated the action against Iraq.
thoroughly examining the circumstances
and then voted overwhelmingly, 77 to 23,
to authorize the Commander-in-Chief to
use military force if, and only if, he deter-
mined that all diplomatic efforts to peace-
fully disarm Saddam Hussein's Iraqi
regime had been fulfilled. I am confident
he did that and did it brilliantly.
Unfortunately, those efforts did not
result in a new UN Security Council reso-
lution of unity, as they had in October. It
is important to note, however, that our
President expended extraordinary efforts
to bring what was a clear and growing
threat to the attention of the United
Nations and to try to build that consensus
for a unified way to proceed.
The United Nations was unable to step
up to its responsibilities of enforcing its
own mandates largely because of the
intransigence of a very few nations to
block any form of meaningful enforce-
ment of the Security Council resolutions.
The failure of that body to step up to its
responsibilities is most unfortunate, for the
United Nations now faces a challenge
unlike any before, with the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, particularly
those of nuclear weapons on the Korean
peninsula, in Iran, and other areas of the
world. This could have been - and should
have been the UN's finest hour.
In launching Operation Iraqi Free
dom, our President fulfilled his responsi
bility to protect the American people
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