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We Must Act Now As history claims the first year since the 9-11-01 attacks, we must strengthen our efforts to protect our nation from additional strikes. American military troops are fighting the terrorists who still pose a threat. Though none of us volunteered, fanatics have targeted us and our families in a war we never sought. The best way to give our children the same kind of kind of peace at home enjoyed by earlier generations of Americans, we must defeat the terrorists and others like Saddam Hussein who wish harm upon our country. Unfortunately, we now see that it took too long to recognize the threat posed by Osama bin-Laden. We responded weakly to the first World Trade Center bombing, the attack on the USS Cole and the bombings against two of our embassies in Africa. We considered these attacks to be crimes, not acts of war. For example, when Sudan offered to deliver Osama bin Laden to us in 1996, our government said no. We did not have enough evidence for an indictment. The most powerful lesson of the 9-11-01 attacks is that our nation cannot allow dangers to accumulate -- especially when our enemies may have weapons of mass destruction. That is why President Bush has put the gunsight on Saddam Hussein. We know all too well Saddam Hussein's record of violence and deception. He has stolen billions of dollars from his starving people to create chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. He has fired long-range rockets against his neighbors. Through oppression and fear, he has made an enemy of his own citizens. In retrospect, we should have knocked him from power during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Democrats and Republicans agree he must go. Before firing missiles at Saddam Hussein in 1998 after the Iraqi leader kicked U.N. weapons inspectors out of his country, President Clinton put the world on notice. He said that unless stopped, Hussein "will conclude that the international community has lost its will (and) conclude that he can go right on and do more to rebuild an arsenal of devastating destruction." Saddam Hussein's serial violation of United Nation resolutions is an important test for that world body. The U.N. must decide either its resolutions have meaning or the world body means nothing. We may have to give Saddam Hussein another chance to disarm. His inevitable refusal will help convince doubting nations that there is no alternative to military action. The President must also seek Congress' approval. It will send a strong message of unity to the rest of the world, as did the 1991 vote right before Desert Storm. I am confident that Congress will support the President. We can change the meaning of 9-11-01 by making it the terrorists' final, desperate attack. If we do nothing, that sad day may instead mark the beginning of more horrific attacks on our soil. |
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