Authorizing Limited Use of Armed Forces in Libya

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Hastings resolution.

I think it's important to remember that U.S. military force is a very awesome thing and should only be employed in very select circumstances. We misused that power when it came to Iraq, and we used that power in an improper way and too long in Afghanistan. But when people are being slaughtered by dictators around the world, where massive loss of lives and innocents are at stake, I think it is appropriate for the United States to step up and protect those people.

Yes, we do have business in Libya. We have business in protecting mass murder from happening and stopping mass murder from happening around the world. We have business in stopping the destabilization of regions like north Africa. We have business in making sure that the peaceful resolutions in Egypt and in Tunisia are not undermined. We have business in making sure that dictators like Ali Saleh in Yemen and Bashar al-Assad in Syria are not emboldened and the signal does not go out to them that they can continue to wipe out their population and nobody cares.

I believe that if I was in this Congress when Rwanda or Srebrenica or Darfur were happening, I pray that I would stand up and say that those people need to have some protection and that the most powerful Nation in the world shouldn't stand by while innocent women and children are being mowed down, and I hope today that my colleagues will join in that because it's the right thing to do.

Thank you very much.

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