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March
20,
2003, 11:00 a.m.
Let
History Guide
Senator
McCain responds to Senator Byrd.
EDITOR’S
NOTE: These are comments Senator John McCain (R., Ariz.) made
on the Senate floor on March 19, 2003.
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observed the comments of the distinguished senator from West Virginia
concerning the events which are about to transpire within the next hour
or so, or days. I did not really look forward to coming to the floor and
debating the issue. It has been debated. It has been discussed in the
media. It has been discussed at every kitchen table in America. But I
felt it would be important for me to respond to allegations concerning
the United States of America, its status in the world, and, in particular,
what happens after this conflict is over, which I do not think we have
paid enough attention to, perhaps understandably, because our first and
foremost consideration is the welfare of the young men and women we are
sending in harm's way. But to allege that somehow the United States of
America has demeaned itself or tarnished its reputation by being involved
in liberating the people of Iraq, to me, simply is neither factual nor
fair.
The United States
of America has involved itself in the effort to disarm Saddam Hussein, and
now freedom for the Iraqi people, with the same principles that motivated
the United States of America in most of the conflicts we have been involved
in, most recently Kosovo and Bosnia, and in which, in both of those cases,
the United States national security was not at risk, but what was at risk
was our advocacy and willingness to serve and sacrifice on behalf of people
who are the victims of oppression and genocide.
We did not go into
Bosnia because Mr. Milosevic had weapons of mass destruction. We did not
go into Kosovo because ethnic Albanians or others were somehow a threat
to the security of the United States. We entered into those conflicts
because we could not stand by and watch innocent men, women, and children
being slaughtered, raped, and "ethnically cleansed.'' We found a
new phrase for our lexicon: "ethnic cleansing.'' Ethnic cleansing
is a phrase which has incredible implications.
The mission our military
is about to embark on is fraught with danger, and it means the loss of
brave young American lives. But I also believe it offers the opportunity
for a new day for the Iraqi people.
Madam President,
there is one thing I am sure of, that we will find the Iraqi people have
been the victims of an incredible level of brutalization, terror, murder,
and every other kind of disgraceful and distasteful oppression on the
part of Saddam Hussein's regime. And contrary to the assertion of the
senator from West Virginia, when the people of Iraq are liberated, we
will again have written another chapter in the glorious history of the
United States of America, that we will fight for the freedom of other
citizens of the world, and we again assert the most glorious phrase, in
my view, ever written in the English language; and that is: We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The people of Iraq , for
the first time, will be able to realize those inalienable rights. I am
proud of the United States of America. I am proud of the leadership of
the president of the United States.
It is not an easy
decision to send America's young men and women into harm's way. As I said
before, some of them will not be returning. But to somehow assert, as
some do, that the people of Iraq and the Middle East are not entitled
to those same God-given rights that Americans and people all over the
country are, that they do not have those same hopes and dreams and aspirations
our own citizens do, to me, is a degree of condescension. I might even
use stronger language than that to describe it. So I respectfully disagree
with the remarks of the senator from West Virginia. I believe the president
of the United States has done everything necessary and has exercised every
option short of war, which has led us to the point we are today.
I believe that, obviously,
we will remove a threat to America's national security because we will
find there are still massive amounts of weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq. Although Theodore Roosevelt is my hero and role model, I also, in
many ways, am Wilsonian in the respect that America, this great nation
of ours, will again contribute to the freedom and liberty of an oppressed
people who otherwise never might enjoy those freedoms.
So perhaps the senator
from West Virginia is right. I do not think so. Events will prove one
of us correct in the next few days. But I rely on history as my guide
to the future, and history shows us, unequivocally, that this nation has
stood for freedom and democracy, even at the risk and loss of American
lives, so that all might enjoy the same privileges or have the opportunity
to someday enjoy the same privileges as we do in this noble experiment
called the United States of America.
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