Madam Speaker, certainly any military action against Iraq will create tensions in the region and could create tensions within the various factions of the Muslim faith.
In the past Saddam Hussein has used horrific chemical weapons against the Kurds. It is rather ironic that Saddam Hussein says he is heir to Saladin, the great Muslim figure of the third crusade who in fact was a Kurd. In this century Hussein is using him against the people he is purporting to be a descendant from.
It is true that Saddam Hussein holds the support of many Sunni Muslims in Iraq and that would create some friction within that community. There is the long-standing historical friction between the Persian community in Iran and the Shiite Muslims and the Sunni Muslims. Those frictions exist now. Will those frictions become worse with an attack on Iraq? Possibly.
It could possibly destabilize other regimes. We must be prepared for those consequences. That is why we must ensure that it is more dangerous not to have an attack and ensure that we are justified if an attack takes place. We must also ensure that after an attack if it so happens that we are prepared with our allies to shoulder our burden to ensure some sort of societal and institutional stability in that region.