I despise revisionist history. The Democrats pretending that they were poor innocent lambs, deceived by the evil George Bush or NeoCons, turns my stomach with the sour taste of hypocrisy. You want a small sampling of quotes leading up to the war?
The Democrats argument seems to be that Bush was the smartest human on the earth. Years before he was running for President, let along championing going to war with Iraq, he went and got Democrats to admit all these things about how Saddam had a WMD program, and was a threat to world peace, so that when he was elected, and there was a 9/11, he could use that as justification for war?
Either that, or what happened is the Democrats saw the same intelligence reports that Bush was saw later, and with less evidence of WMD's, they all felt confident enough to state that Saddam/Iraq had WMD's and was a threat. Remember, later, George W. Bush was shown MORE evidence of Saddam WMD's program, not less. So Bush had MORE reason to believe it, than these folks. He had the world's intelligence agencies telling him it existed, and he had a choice, to ignore all these democrats and the world intelligence agencies advice on Iraq, and if Iraq did anything bad, they'd all blame him for inaction. Or he could listen to his advisors, like Congress, Senate, and heads of opposition party that were screaming, "Off with his head", then later pretended they had nothing to do with the saber rattling before we went to War.
❝ "If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.” ❞
❝ "The community of nations may see more and more of the very kind of threat Iraq poses now: a rogue state with weapons of mass destruction, ready to use them or provide them to terrorists. If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow." ❞
❝ "Iraq is a long way from USA but, what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face.” ❞
❝ “He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.” ❞
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❝ “We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and Laws, to take necessary actions, (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction pro- grams.” ❞
❝ “Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.” ❞
❝ “There is no doubt that ... Saddam Hussein has invigorated his weapons pro- grams. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs con- tinue a pace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies.” ❞
❝ "Whether one agrees or disagrees with the Administration's policy towards Iraq, I don't think there can be any question about Saddam's conduct. He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do. He lies and cheats; he snubs the mandate and authority of international weapons inspectors; and he games the system to keep buying time against en- forcement of the just and legitimate demands of the United Nations, the Secu- rity Council, the United States and our allies. Those are simply the facts." ❞
❝ “We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weap- ons throughout his country.” ❞
❝ “We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and develop- ing weapons of mass destruction.” ❞
❝ "I share the administration's goals in dealing with Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction." ❞
❝ “I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force– if necessary– to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.” ❞
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That was a very small sampling of them.
Conclusion
If you think the blood stains the hands of the right, then you should remember that the left was as vocal, if not more so, in support of the war and in fact in pushing Bush and Republicans into Iraq. I won’t give them a free ride and chance to rewrite history as the party that was against the war. Once in the war, they tried to blame the other side and vilify Bush.
❝ Men often oppose a thing merely because they have no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike ❞
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We as a society should hold hypocrites more accountable than those who make sincere mistakes, because at least the latter owns their errors and stands a chance to learn from it, instead of trying to dodge responsibility.