Who is the “speaker“ in the following passage?
“We must recognise that there is no indication that Saddam Hussein has any intention of relenting,” the speaker warned his audience. “So we have an obligation of enormous consequence, an obligation to guarantee that Saddam Hussein cannot ignore the United Nations.
“He cannot be permitted to go unobserved and unimpeded toward his horrific objective of amassing a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.
“This is not a matter about which there should be any debate whatsoever in the Security Council, or, certainly, in this nation.
“I believe that the United Nations must take, and should authorise immediately, whatever steps are necessary to force him to relent – and that the United States should support and participate in those steps.”
The speaker continued: “While we should always see to take significant international actions on a multilateral rather than unilateral basis whenever that is possible, if in the final analysis we face what we truly believe to be a grave threat to the well-being of our nation or the entire world and it cannot be removed peacefully we must have the courage to do what we believe is right and wise.”
He went on: “I submit that the old adage ‘pay now or pay later’ applies perfectly in this situation.”
The speaker noted that only small quantities of biological weapons would be needed to murder thousands of civilians in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. “These could be delivered by ballistic missile”, he warned, “but they also could be delivered by much more pedestrian means; aerosol applicators on commercial trucks easily could suffice.”
Tony Blair? Good guess, but no. Bush, Cheney? No. That was a speech given by John Kerry on the floor of the Senate on November 9, 1997, right after Saddam had kicked out the weapons inspectors. Of course, there was a Democrat in the White House at the time…
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