Robert Byrd

Mr. BYRD

Mr. BYRD. The Constitution does not say that. That is exactly what my friend is wanting to read into this Constitution. I don't mean just my friend, I mean the others who support his view. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. BYRD. He has said this Nation has issued a declaration of war but five times. That is right. There have been 12 major wars in which this country has participated. We have had five declarations of war by this Congress out of those 12 wars. But out of six of the remaining seven, the President acted on authorizations by statutes. They were not declarations of war as such, but they were statutes from which the authorization could be drawn. So that is 11 of the 12. The 12th was in Korea, and Congress did not declare war. Congress did not authorize the forces of this country being injected into that conflict. That was done by Harry Truman, and he is my favorite Democratic President during my career, not my favorite all-time Democratic President. By the way, Eisenhower is my favorite Republican President during this time. Back on the subject, there were 12 major wars. The distinguished Senator from Virginia has mentioned the number 200. He has said we have had military forces involved in over 200 conflicts. Yes, in over 200, but they were not major conflicts. They were minor skirmishes having to do with cattle rustlers, having to do with pirates, having to do with minor engagements. No, they were not major conflicts.

Mr. BYRD. I said for the war in Korea, we did not have a declaration. Mr. Truman put our troops there, and we didn't have a declaration. Let's go back to the war in Vietnam. I was here. I was one of the Senators who voted for the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Yes, I voted for the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. I am sorry for that. I am guilty of doing that. I should have been one of the two, or at least I should have made it three, Senators who voted against that Gulf of Tonkin resolution. But I am not wanting to commit that sin twice, and that is exactly what we are doing here. This is another Gulf of Tonkin resolution. I am not going to vote for that this time. No. Don't count me in on that. I see my friend, the Senator from Massachusetts. I join with the Senator from Virginia in wanting to hear what that Senator has to say. That is my answer to the Senator.

Mr. BYRD. We may have been brother Senators on the resolution which brought us out of Somalia.

Mr. BYRD. I thank the distinguished Senator. He has been very liberal----

Mr. BYRD. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. BYRD. Madam President, it was not more than 6 weeks ago when this President, this administration, expressed concern at the ``frenzy'' that people were being wrapped into. This administration tried to cool it 6 weeks ago, talking about the frenzy. We have heard this administration's Cabinet Members out on the trail say time and again, there is no plan, no plan on the President's desk. That is what Secretary of State Powell said to me when I asked, What is new? What about these plans? Oh, there is no plan on the President's desk. Even the President himself has said there is no plan. Even as late as October 1, just a few day ago, 3 days ago, 4 days ago, the President himself said he has not made a decision to go to war. So what is new? That is what I am saying to my distinguished friend. We knew about their packaging. Why didn't the CIA Director say it to me when I asked him twice, once up in 407 and once in my own office, What is there that is new from your standpoint of intelligence that we did not know 3 months ago, 6 months ago? He has not been able to come up with anything. So I say to my distinguished friend from Virginia, yes, I am concerned about packaging and all that. But that is not new. That should not make it all-compelling that we vote on this matter of peace or war, or preemptive strike, before we go home. The people out there want us to come home. Let's go home to the people who send us here; let's talk with them in town meetings; let's tell them what we know. They have questions they want answered. Let's go to our people, our bosses, the people whom we represent. Let's go back to them before we make this fateful decision once and for all, which involves so much of the treasure and blood of the people who sent us here. Let's go back to them; let's get their feelings; and then we can come back and make this decision.

Mr. BYRD. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. BYRD. Madam President, will the Senator yield? Will the Senator yield?

Mr. BYRD. Madam President, may I say to my friend, he is getting the cart--I say most respectfully, the distinguished Senator from Virginia, for whom I have tremendous respect--he has been chairman of the Armed Services Committee on which I sit--is getting the cart before the horse. Let's let the United Nations, that forum of world opinion, speak. Let it make its decision; let's see where those people stand; let's see where those other nations stand, and then come back to this body and the body across the Capitol and let the Congress make its decision after the United Nations has taken a position; otherwise, we get the cart before the horse. Let's wait and see what that world opinion says. Let's wait and see where they stand, the United Nations, and then we will be in a better position to make our decision. What we are doing here--if the distinguished Senator will yield further?

Mr. BYRD. We are voting on this new Bush doctrine of preventive strikes--preemptive strikes. There is nothing in this Constitution about preemptive strikes. Yet in this rag here, this resolution, S.J. Res. 46, we are about to vote to put the imprimatur of the Congress on that doctrine. That is what the Bush administration wants us to do. They want Congress to put its stamp of approval on that Bush doctrine of preemptive strikes. That is a mistake. That is a mistake. Are we going to present the face of America as the face of a bully that is ready to go out at high noon with both guns blazing or are we going to maintain the face of America as a country which believes in justice, the rule of law, freedom and liberty and the rights of all people to work out their ultimate destiny?

Mr. BYRD. No, but I remember Caesar, when he saw one of the Roman soldiers running away from the battle, he took that Roman soldier and turned him around. He said: You are running in the wrong direction. That is what I am afraid we are doing. We are running in the wrong direction.

Mr. BYRD. Madam President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. BYRD. I think the President would be in a much better position with the United Nations to leave the case as he had made it. He made a fine case. He made a case in which there was no room for water or air. He placed it right in front of the United Nations, the fact that that body has been recreant in its duty and its responsibility. It passed resolution after resolution after resolution, and has done very little. I think the President is in a much better position, ultimately, if we let the United Nations speak first and not go to the United Nations and say: Now, we would love to hear what you have to say, but regardless of what you have to say, we have made up our minds, and if you don't do it, we are going to do it. Well, why not let him do it? I think this responsibility should be left clearly in the lap of the United Nations. We will make our decision later, when the President comes back to this institution which, under this Constitution, has the power--not any President--the power to declare war.

Mr. BYRD. Madam President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. BYRD. Madam President, what were we doing in those 4 years? What were we doing? What were we failing to do that now comes to mind that makes us so determined and so hell-bent to vote on this rag, S.J. Res. 46, before this election? We knew all this for 4 years. Where were we? Why did we wait until this particular moment? That is one answer.

Mr. BYRD. We were doing that, but we ought to have been doing more. Why wait until an election and then come up all of a sudden and say, Oh, we have got to have this S.J. Res., we have got to put into the hands of one man the trust and the temptation, which Madison so well spoke against because it was too much, too great for any one man? The gulf war, does the Senator remember the total cost of that war?

Mr. BYRD. It was $61.1 billion. Does the Senator recall how much the U.S. had to pay?

Mr. BYRD. That is right. We ended with the United States being left holding the bag for about $7.5 billion.

Mr. BYRD. That is a little over $7 billion. That is what we ought to be doing now. We ought to get these other countries to belly up to the bar and help to bear the cost of this war. We are not doing that, though. We are having an administration that says, Give it to me, give me the authorization to go, and if you, the U.N., don't do it, I will. Who is ``I''? ``I will.'' ``We will.'' Who is ``we''? We are committing the American people, we are committing the blood and the treasure of the American people to do what the United Nations won't do. I say, do what the President has done thus far. Put it in the lap of the United Nations and expect them to give us an answer. Then come back to the people's representatives and let them make a determination as to whether or not at that point we should strike. Maybe we shouldn't.

Mr. BYRD. That Anglo-Saxon blood flows through the veins of the Senator from Virginia.

Mr. BYRD. Does the Senator know how many times Turkey has violated the U.N. Security Council resolutions? More than 40 times. I am a friend of Turkey.

Mr. BYRD. I say to my dear friend, point to Iraq, for which I have no grievance, and talk about Iraq's violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions. Turkey has violated those resolutions; and that ain't all. Israel has violated those resolutions. Israel has violated those Security Council resolutions. So don't put it all on the basis of violations of Security Council resolutions. I am simply saying--and the distinguished Senator can stay with me here until the Moon is up and full at midnight and until that Moon changes.

Mr. BYRD. He can stay with me until the cows come home, and I will always lead him right back to this foundation, my rock on which I stand. And it says: Congress shall have the power to declare war. The administration can say all it wants. It can bring all of its Cabinet heads up and have them on television on Sunday. It can bring Dr. Rice, it can bring Secretary Powell, it can bring the secretary of war, it can bring the Vice President of the United States, the President of this body, and they can say whatever they want until they are completely out of breath. And I guarantee you they will not once mention the Constitution of the United States. They haven't thus far. But they are going to be brought right back every time to face this Constitution which I hold in my hand, which says Congress shall have the power to declare war.

Mr. BYRD. Yes. Will the Senator allow me one thing? Then he has the floor and he can wrap up. Madam President, today--just today--I say this at 15 minutes until 3 p.m. on this day, the 4th day of October in the year of our Lord 2002-- my office has received 1,400 telephone calls--just today. And almost every single caller has said: Wait. Slow down. Don't rush this through. If the Senator will allow me 1 more minute, I plead with those people out there, I plead with the American people, let your voice be heard. You need to be heard. You have a right to be heard. You have questions that should be asked and answered. Let the leadership of this Congress know that you don't want this resolution rammed through this Congress before the election. The life of your son may depend upon it. The life of your daughter may depend upon it. Get out there and let this leadership know that we should stay on our jobs--or that we should come home and talk with the people back home and put off this fateful decision which cannot be retracted except through another piece of legislation. Let the people back there speak to us and then come back after the election and make this decision so we will not be hearing the television ads and reading the newspaper ads with respect to politics while we have to make this decision. I hope the people will speak out. Let the hills and the mountains and the valleys reverberate with the sound of your voices. It is your country. Stand for it now. People out there, speak out, write, use the telephones, use the mail, and let the leadership of this Congress hear you. Tell them to wait. I thank the distinguished Senator for his kindness.