Reaction: What They’Re Saying About Attack

Reaction to the Iraq bombing from members of Congress and the Clinton Administration:

“The United States and the world community cannot allow Iraq to brazenly break its promises, just as it could not allow Iraq to bully its neighbors back in 1990.”

Secretary of Defense William Cohen

“While I have been assured by administration officials that there is no connection with the impeachment process in the House of Representatives, I cannot support this military action in the Persian Gulf at this time. Both the timing and the policy are subject to question.”

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.

“The president is doing this simply to delay the impeachment vote. … The president of the United States should not be making this irresponsible move.”

Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y.

“It’s not so hard to chew bubble gum and dance at the same time. It’s irrelevant whether there’s bombing going on (and impeachment hearings in the House).”

Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla.

“It is deeply dismaying that some members of Congress, even as our soldiers go into military action, cannot put down the political hatchet for even one day. They’re so possessed with taking out Bill Clinton, that they can’t get beyond it, even for a day.”

Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla.

“Everybody who has been involved with the issue of Iraq understands that a day of reckoning has been a long time coming for Saddam Hussein.”

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.