October 20, 2002

Washington, D.C.-I've always considered myself a history buff, and I'm a firm believer in the adage that those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it. When you look at Saddam Hussein's horrendous record for abusing his power and violating international law, there is no doubt that his oppressive tyranny over the Iraqi people and his efforts to terrorize the Middle East and the world must end.

For more than 10 years, Saddam has repeatedly violated 16 United Nations Security Council Resolutions designed to ensure that Iraq does not pose a threat to international peace and security. According to United Nations reports, Iraq maintains thousands of liters of biological weapons such as anthrax for use with Scud warheads, aerial bombs and aircraft. Iraq failed to report to the U.N. up to three tons of growth material for biological agents, and the country has two known bio-containment facilities, one of which was renovated without U.N. approval and is now a biological weapons facility.

Those who wonder if Saddam will use these weapons in the future should look to his past. Saddam launched a large-scale chemical weapons attack against Iraq's Kurdish population in the late 1980s, killing thousands. And Saddam's military has attacked Iranian and Kurds at least 10 times with mustard or nerve agents.

Even more chilling than biological agents, Saddam is aggressively pursuing the production of nuclear weapons. A report released in September concludes Saddam can build a nuclear bomb within months if he is able to obtain the necessary materials. In the last 14 months, Iraq has sought to buy thousands of specially designed aluminum tubes which officials believe are intended as components of nuclear weapons. Iraq has withheld documentation of its nuclear program, including weapons design and experimental data. And Iraq is believed to be developing prohibited ballistic missiles with a range greater than 90 miles.

Saddam has repeatedly refused visits by human rights monitors, because he knows just what they would find. Hundreds of Kurds and other detainees have been held in Iraq for two decades, without charges, and have been used as subjects in Iraq's illegal experiments with chemical and biological weapons. Since 2000, the Iraqi government has used tongue amputation as a punishment for citizens who criticize Saddam or his family. And Saddam executed at least 1,500 people in 1997 for political reasons. Unbelievably, families are made to pay for the cost of their relatives' executions.

Personal liberties that we take for granted in the U.S. are denied under Saddam's regime. Non-Arab citizens are forced to change their ethnicity or their identity documents and adopt Arab names, or they are deprived of their homes, food-ration cards, and expelled. Amnesty International reported that Iraq has the world's worst record for numbers of persons who have disappeared or remain unaccounted. More than 16,000 people have disappeared in Iraq. Saddam had more than 500 journalists killed in the past decade.

Iraq is one of seven countries designated by the State Department as state sponsors of international terrorism. Saddam earned this dubious distinction by actively training and harboring terrorists, and engaging in terrorism himself. Former Iraq officers tell of an Iraqi terrorist training facility that trains both Iraqis and other Arabs in plane hijacking, explosives, and assassinations. The country has sheltered two known terrorist groups that have carried out attacks since the 1970s, killing hundreds of people, including Americans. In 1993, Iraqi government officials planned and attempted to assassinate former President Bush with a car bomb. And since April 2002, Saddam has offered $25,000 to families of Palestinian suicide bombers.

On Wednesday, I attended President Bush's signing ceremony for the resolution to allow the use of force against Iraq, a resolution that I wholeheartedly support, given Saddam's past atrocities. I believe that there is no other alternative for the U.S., knowing the facts of the past and knowing the reality of a Saddam Hussein who only grows stronger over time.