My list of DUers who believed in the justifications for the Iraq invasion:

[Robb]

[onehandle]

1. I Regret Nothing! nt

[freshwest]

21. No regrets either. Bush = Lies. (dial-up warning, pic)

[treestar]

2. looks like the list of smart things done by Dubya

[Benton D Struckcheon]

3. Rimshot!!!

[Faygo Kid]

4. We marched, we protested, we contributed to stop the obvious fraud.

But The Washington Post saw fit to bury us at the bottom of page A7, if we were lucky.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. See, all you needed was a tricorner hat, a rascal, a "KEEP YUR GURBMINT HANDS OFF MY MEDICARE" sign

and 30 like-minded buddies, though, and you'd be FRONT PAGE BREAKING NEWS!

[Phentex]

7. and we were told we were not being patriotic AND

that we should support the President in war times. UGH!

I am still bitter.

[intheflow]

76. I remember sitting in my hotel room in DC,

the morning after the largest anti-war march in the country's history, and the local affiliates ran a total of 6 minutes coverage combined. They showed close-cropped shots of isolated people in costumes, not the swaths of chanting, angry citizens marching down Pennsylvania Ave. I was horrified at the non-coverage, though of course I wasn't surprised.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. I remember being flabbergasted at the brazenness of the bullshit.

[OldDem2012]

10. My biggest issue was not the lying bs being shoveled at a rapid rate from the Bush Administration...

...it was the huge number of Americans willing to believe every bit of it.

I am still quite angry and disgusted....I may never get over it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

30. You SHOULD have been alarmed that the "checks and balances" failed....

This kind of thing should have been impossible.

When I told a friend the administration was lying about WMDs I was told there was NO WAY they could get away with something like that because career people were in place to prevent an administration from doing something that crazy.

[OldDem2012]

63. Not the first time it's happened...for example, the Tonkin Gulf "Incident" and the sinking of....

....the Maine. Both incidents ended up galvanizing public support for war. Our history is full of crap like this.

One attempt was thankfully never authorized...Operation Northwoods.

All of this should tell us very clearly that there are no checks and balances when the winds of war are blowing from the powers behind the curtain.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

64. True. Frankly I'm surprised we didn't escalate the drug war,....

...what with Miami Vice telling us the Columbians were engaging in open warfare on our streets.

[meanit]

65. The checks and balances

went down the drain when 9/11 happened. And with the specter Osama Bin Laden hiding under everybody's bed, some "yellow cake", "mushroom clouds" and a bought and paid for right wing media, the Bush administration had the recipe to do absolutely whatever it wanted.

9/11 and Bin Laden gave Bush and company unheard of power they never would have had otherwise.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

72. All that talk of underground labs...

Made it sound like our troops were going to recreate a James Bond movie.



And of course Saddam and Osama would be in there trying to push a big red button. (Strangely marked "LAUNCH" in English - I guess it would be an ACME product)

[midnight]

116. You may not bet far off with the movie propaganda according to this:

Jessica amnesia

"There was no [sign of] shooting, no bullet inside her body, no stab wound - only road traffic accident. They want to distort the picture. I don't know why they think there is some benefit in saying she has a bullet injury."

Witnesses told us that the special forces knew that the Iraqi military had fled a day before they swooped on the hospital.

"We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military, there were no soldiers in the hospital," said Dr Anmar Uday, who worked at the hospital.

"It was like a Hollywood film. They cried 'go, go, go', with guns and blanks without bullets, blanks and the sound of explosions. They made a show for the American attack on the hospital - action movies like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie Chan."



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/3028585.stm

[Spitfire of ATJ]

117. That made her out to be G.I. Jane out there....

They claimed she was shooting the enemy and getting shot until she passed out.

[midnight]

128. Propaganda she was pressed to uphold until she and Tillman's brother held a press

conference disputing the lies...

[juajen]

92. A great many of them were in denial.

I have relatives and friends who were plenty smart, who just refused to admit they were being or had been duped.

If they admitted the truth, it would make them look stupid. This still goes on today, when they certainly know better. Sad, really.

[Spartacus Maximus XL]

119. I think many of us felt/feel that way.

All the 10 year Iraq War retrospective going on just gets my blood boiling all over again at the Bush Admin and media ... grrr! The only one I recall on the "other" side of the rush to war was Diane Rehm on NPR. God bless her and her gravelly pipes!

[BainsBane]

126. I love Diane Rehm

She's a treasure. I wish my public radio station carried her.

[Marr]

19. Yep. You didn't even need a lot of information-- many of their arguments were plain

old logical fallacies.

I don't think many people were fooled, honestly-- apart from the Freeper/Tea Party crowd.

It seemed like the entire establishment just decided to support the invasion, and so facts became irrelevant. War is incredibly profitable for a tiny sliver of society, after all. That tiny sliver of society that owns the media/Wall Street/the government/etc.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. Was it the 2003 SOTU speech that had the "yellowcake" line? It was known to be a lie AT THE TIME.

I remember distinctly shouting at my low-def, 420i, cathode ray television set, "THAT IS KNOWN TO BE A LIE!"

[Marr]

23. Sounds right. I remember all the bellyaching about Iraq having "thrown out the inspectors", even as

they were trying to BLOCK the UN inspectors from going in to have a look, on Iraq's invitation.

The whole thing was unbelievable bullshit from top to bottom.

[Marr]

25. My personal favorite, however, remains, 'prove that you DON'T have WMD, or we will invade'.

ONLY in America could you use a logical fallacy as a case for war.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

33. My favorite was the summit at the Azores....

Not only did Bush say Saddam and his sons had 24 hours to get out of town but he threatened France for not going along with it.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

49. Not to nit pick but...

...I thought CRT TVs were 525i.

[Warren DeMontague]

50. I had a crash course in the whole thing several years back for a variety of work reasons

and so of course, I was wrong.

Actually, you're off, too, though. NTSC -the old US SD Standard, and pretty much the worst worldwide; was 480i, not 420i.

Where I got "420" from, who knows.

The European PAL standard was 576i.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard-definition_television

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

58. 441 that RCA preferred is close to 420.

Some European dvds don't play on some US equipment and vice versa.

For the US current broadcast standards are 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p.
Current SDTV = 480i over ATSC

Old style NTSC signals were 525i:

The National Television System Committee was established in 1940 by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to resolve the conflicts that were made between companies over the introduction of a nationwide analog television system in the United States. In March 1941, the committee issued a technical standard for black-and-white television that built upon a 1936 recommendation made by the Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA). Technical advancements of the vestigial side band technique allowed for the opportunity to increase the image resolution. The NTSC selected 525 scan lines as a compromise between RCA's 441-scan line standard (already being used by RCA's NBC TV network) and Philco's and DuMont's desire to increase the number of scan lines to between 605 and 800. The standard recommended a frame rate of 30 frames (images) per second, consisting of two interlaced fields per frame at 262.5 lines per field and 60 fields per second. Other standards in the final recommendation were an aspect ratio of 4:3, and frequency modulation (FM) for the sound signal (which was quite new at the time).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC

[Warren DeMontague]

61. what's amazing to me is that we put up with it for so long.

Gaaaah, it all looks so bad, now.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

69. I still have a couple CRT TVs

One in the spare room and one in the basement. I should clean house.

[Warren DeMontague]

85. Man, those things are heavy, too, huh?

I remember the last one we bought, I think, my wife got herself for her old apartment when she was single.. so it was something like a 34 inch or some such CRT. Moving it. OH MY GOD.

I think we finally gave it away to some very strong Buddhist monks who needed a tv. I'm totally not making that up.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

98. Moving a full size CRT TV is a job for a squad...

...of those folks from Game of Thrones or 300. The 19" in my basement must be over 40 lbs and the 32" in the spare room... I don't know but a refrigerator dolly was involved.

[joshcryer]

28. I remember being totally disillusioned about "authorization."

When Bush made it clear he was going in on old UN resolutions and was determined to attack because we were "still at war" with Iraq. As if anything was going to stop him. Nothing was going to stop him.

[Warren DeMontague]

87. Early 2002, I remember being like "Iraq? Where'd they get Iraq from? We can't attack Iraq.

Iraq didn't attack us. What the sam hell does any of this have to do with Iraq?"

[elleng]

8. Thanks. Wasn't here then,

was with Wes Clark, who wrote this.

'In the old, familiar fashion, mounting U.S. casualties in Iraq have mobilized increasing public doubts about the war.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082501623.html

He opposed it from the beginning.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgih5v_general-wesley-clark-considers-iraq-an-unnecessary-war_news

[babylonsister]

9. I think that's why the majority of us found our way here:

I know I couldn't believe what I was seeing, so checked out the intertubes to see if I was alone in my assessment. I wasn't.

[rhett o rick]

26. I agree. DU and Air America helped me keep what little sanity I have. nm

[Ilsa]

45. The early days of the war in Iraq

brought me to DU, but I don't think I registered and posted for a few months.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

80. same here. I was checking the tubes even before * got into office

During the campaigning. Sheesh, just checking his record as governor made it clear.

I remeber The Nation's cover where he was drawn as Alfred E. Newman, wearing a button that said, "WORRY".

And I remeber the moment, the feeling of utter nauseous despair when watching TV and seeing him say, basically, "fuck everything I said about waiting for the inspectors report, we're goin ta WARRRRRR!!!"

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. shit..that's also the list of positive attributes of all of the GOP pres wannabees last 2 elections!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

12. I'm thinking back to some of the friendships lost...

and work relationships strained. My Korean War veteran stepfather being spit on during a protest in Pennsylvania. Neighbors who stopped talking to me because of my anti-W bumper sticker. Fun times. Don't remember exactly, but think it was Condi "Mushroom Cloud" Rice who sealed the deal for me.

WE WERE RIGHT. (And we're right about SS and Medicare... fucking hands off!)

[Curmudgeoness]

35. Yep, why doesn't being right feel better?

I cannot list the times that we have been right, and ignored. And proven to be right after the shit hits the fan. Hollow victory.

Just a few times, I would like to have them actually listen to us.

[babylonsister]

38. Yes!

I wish it felt better also: I lost two brothers who still won't listen.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

40. I know.

I'm sick of being right. Bush tax cuts, housing bubble, the list does go and on...

[Yavin4]

13. I Marched in NYC in the Snow to Protest The Iraq Invasion

The marched went al the way from the Upper East Side to Union Square. I caught a nasty cold afterwards.

[KoKo]

55. We did it ALL OVER AMERICA...and the Media Reporting..DOA..

But, I will always be PROUD of STANDING UP TO THEM...and we should NEVER FORGET WHAT WE DID back THEN!

FELLOW MARCHER in GASP ...THE SOUTH! (Yes...there are STILL FOLKS HERE)

[juajen]

93. Yes, KoKo, and I am one. The South has plenty of liberals, we just

have an invisible cloak. Thank God there is gumbo, etouffee, and some wonderful daiquiris to while away the time under here. Excuse me while I go and attempt to get this tongue out of my cheek.

[Cha]

115. Hey, I was there Yavin. It was Nasty Cold that Feb 15, 2003 Day

in NYC history. We danced the last hours to stay warmer. 20 degrees and the wind howling!

By my count there were almost a million people there and the NYT Downplayed us!

[elleng]

14. NOT fit to print:

How Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraq war lobby used New York Times reporter Judith Miller to make the case for invasion.

http://www.salon.com/2004/05/27/times_10/

Lie by Lie: A Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq

Mushroom clouds, duct tape, Judy Miller, Curveball. Recalling how Americans were sold a bogus case for invasion.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/12/leadup-iraq-war-timeline

[WorseBeforeBetter]

44. Ah, yes, the duct tape.

Put this up in my cube, but it didn't go over well with some. Tough.



And Tom Ridge and that idiotic color-coded terror meter... truly insane times.

[DemoTex]

15. 10 years ago tonight I lit candles in my windows in Dallas

Most of my neighbors agreed with me. But one did not. She was not nice at all.

[WilliamPitt]

16. Accurate depiction of the WMD that was found, too.

[ismnotwasm]

17. Damn straight.

[Tikki]

18. Maybe some of the SF October 2003 marchers will remember the little elderly couple in their coats...

and hats and her holding a purse who held hands as the marched the whole route to the park.
They had to be in their late 70's>. They were there doing what they knew was correct
along with the rest of us.


The Tikkis

[niyad]

22. 10 years ago today, a group of us gathered in mourning, as "shock and awe" blazed across the

airways. we had marched, protested (and been teargassed), called, written, demanded, everything we could think of, and it still happened. as one of the OP's earlier today pointed out, the costs of war and its aftermath go on for decades--over a century.

I think of friendships lost over this, people with whom I no longer have contact, because they believed what we all knew to be lies and deception. Sadly, that same sort of blindness seems to be in continual operation. I am grateful that, even though I live in a very red, very military, very fundie community, I don't have to spend a lot of time or energy dealing with the kool-ade drinkers.

Will be lighting another candle tonight.

[Aristus]

24. A pic of me at the 2005 Seattle Anti-Iraq War rally:

I'm in the BDU field jacket with the sleeves cut off, acting as a "pall-bearer". This is proof that I never believed the justifications for the war...

[babylonsister]

27. We didn't need proof, Aristus.

I flew to DC for a rally in January 2005, I think. We're both still here.

And it felt good to put your money where your mouth is, so to speak, to do something you felt so strongly about. Too bad for all of us hardly anyone reported on it and not enough people were paying attention or cared at the time. Or maybe they believed the gummint!

[Aristus]

29. It's crazy isn't it? The same people who are howling imprecations against "gubmint" now

are the same ones, more or less, who were insisting we had to support and obey Dubyah under any circumstance.

The only reason they don't make up their minds is because they don't have minds to make up...

[marions ghost]

31. At that time one of the only places to find sanity and healthy skepticism

[busterbrown]

41. Wasn’t a DU member then, In fact didn’t own a computer...

Thank Christ for Air America, Molly Ivans, Robert Scheer and Paul Krugman.

Can you believe that Robert Scheer was dismissed from the L.A. Times...They were pretty fucking awful as well... Never bought a Times again..

[marions ghost]

42. I remember -- Never Forget -- it was like a cult

Everybody drank the kool-aid. Scary. The few rational voices--those you mention--were disparaged.

They were a lifeline and DU was a sanctuary where those voices were heard.

It took SO long for the country to even begin to wake up...

[juajen]

94. Are you kidding? Most are still asleep. Musn't admit we were wrong.

We'll just go back to bed and listen to Rush on the radio.

[marions ghost]

95. I'm talking about

those who don't live in delusion.

Back then--there were a whole lot of "moderates" who bought it, refused to see, went along, whatever. They got punked.

We objectors from the start were really on the fringes. We have more company now.

[BlueJazz]

32. Alright ..who the hell is this piece-of-scum DUer named "Whitescreen"

[stevenleser]

34. Here is what I wrote on my old Blog on March 9, 2003, 10 days before war

http://www.network54.com/Forum/142834/message/1047272702/Reasons+for+attacking+Iraq+exposed+as+lies%2C+lies+and+damned+lies

Reasons for attacking Iraq exposed as lies, lies and damned lies
March 9, 2003
Steven H. Leser

Two days ago, the top two UN Weapons inspectors, Hans Blix and nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei talked of "substantial measure(s) of disarmament" across Iraqi weapons programs. ElBaradei's report thoroughly debunked charges of Iraqis using aluminum tubes for nuclear weapons use and that after "thorough analysis, the International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded, with the concurrence of ourside experts, that documents which form the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger are in fact not authentic...we have therefore concluded that these specific allegations are unfounded." The AP article discussing the report ran the headline, "BLIX: Iraq Actively Cooperating to Disarm"

So, there you have it. Iraq is now cooperating. They are destroying missiles, their scientists are disclosing all in interviews and it seems they were not working anywhere near as intently as we were led to believe to develop nuclear weapons. So, we're not going to war, right?

Wrong.

In perhaps the most stunning display that all we have been told regarding why we are going to war against Iraq is total balderdash, Colin Powell and Dubya are indicating war is right around the corner, if not that plans are being stepped up. The fact is, once Dubya was elected, nothing was going to stop him from invading Iraq. It might be for the oil, it might be to avenge the attempt on his daddy, it might be to finish his daddy's unfinished business after the first Gulf War. Whatever the reasons, they have nothing to do with protecting anyone else against Iraq, and the reasons have nothing to do with terrorism. That much is now abundantly clear.

What does this tell us about the people who are leading our country? It tells us that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell and Rumsfeld are willing to kill hundreds of thousands of people and put hundreds of thousands of our men and women in uniform in harms way to prosecute a war against a nation that does not present a clear and present danger to the US or our allies. In short, when they give the "Go ahead" they will be committing mass murder and genocide. I have written articles critical of the war in the past, but characterized these people (Bush, et. al) of being confused, wrong, or stupid as was my belief at the time. They may still be all those things, but I also now believe they know full well that to wage war now against Iraq is morally bankrupt, corrupt and criminal. Bush and any Bush administration official who stands by the pResident on this issue after the war begins should be impeached and sent to the Hague to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Am I being too strong? I don't think so. Our Constitution talks about the inalienable rights of all people to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. War and killing go completely contrary to those basic rights, and it is because of this that past great leaders of our country have established terms like "Clear and Present Danger" to put a moral qualification as to what kind of threat another nation has to pose to us or our allies before we can morally resort to war. A proposed war against Iraq barely had a whiff of such justification before the latest weapons inspectors report. Now, any hint of justification is gone. Americans of all parties, backgrounds, religions and ideologies need to rise up in protest against this war, because once it starts, whatever else this war costs, it will cost us our national honor.

[Curmudgeoness]

36. There were a lot of people who didn't fall for the bullshit.

Take a look at a DU rally that was largely ignored in the media.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/curmudgeoness/6991225559/|" width="640" height="427" alt="Rally"></a>

[TrollBuster9090]

43. Oh heck, that photo must be CROPPED to make it look like the crowd is bigger than it actually IS!

?v=1

[Curmudgeoness]

47. LOL. Yep, I'm a genius with photoshop.

As you can see, I can't even figure out how to post a picture without showing that writing from Flickr.

[Life Long Dem]

62. The toppling of Saddam drew a big crowd...

when cropped.

[ReRe]

37. I was not yet a member of DU, but I was here...

I was here from the beginning. I marched in protest in DC and in my own home town innumerable times, not just in the run-up to the war, but all throughout those miserable years. I wrote LTEs, posted signs in my yard, handed out fliers on the corner, made protest signs, had many knock-down verbal drag-outs with my right-wing extended family. It got so bad with our family that my MIL called a truce and said no more politics to be mentioned at family gatherings. Didn't matter, I just didn't go anymore.

[awoke_in_2003]

39. The build up to the Iraq war...

led me to questioning all my beliefs, led me here, and made me realize I wasn't really a republican. Your list seems correct, from what I remember. Other than a handful of trolls that got served pizza, the Iraq war was not supported here by anyone that mattered.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

46. Fewer here than the Democratic Senators who backed Bush's war(s).

[AnotherMcIntosh]

48. And here's the list of 21 of 50 Senate Democrats who did not believed in the justifications:

"21 of 50 Democratic senators voted against the resolution: Sens. Akaka (D-HI), Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA), Byrd (D-WV), Conrad (D-ND), Corzine (D-NJ), Dayton (D-MN), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Graham (D-FL), Inouye (D-HI), Kennedy (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA), Reed (D-RI), Sarbanes (D-MD), Stabenow (D-MI), Wellstone (D-MN), and Wyden (D-OR).

Final Congressional vote by chamber and party, October 2002:

"1 (2%) of 49 Republican senators voted against the resolution: Sen. Chafee (R-RI).

"The only Independent senator voted against the resolution: Sen. Jeffords (I-VT)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution

And here's a list of the 29 Senate Democrats who did: Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) voted for it, as did Senators Dodd (D-Ct), Joseph I-Almost-Became-the-Vice-President Lieberman (D-Ct), Biden (D-DE), Carper (D-DE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Cleland (D-GA), Miller (GA), Bayh (D-IN), Harkin (D-IA), Breaux (D-LA), Landrieu (D-LA), John Kerry (D-MA), Carnahan (D-MO), Baucus (D-MT), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Reid (D-NV), Torriccelli (D-NJ), Clinton (D-NY), Schumer (D-NY), Edwards (D-NC), Dorgan (D-ND), Hollings (D-SC), Daschle (D-SD), Johnson (D-SD), Cantwell (D-WA), Rockefeller (D-WV), and Kohl (D-WI).

Sen Chuck I'm-a-Moderate-Republican Hagel (D-NE) also voted for it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/transcripts/senaterollcall_iraq101002.htm

[idwiyo]

52. I think you should add Senator Lincoln Chafee to the list, the only republican senator who voted

against that war. He was very consistent about it, as far as I remember.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

66. I agree that former Sen Chafee's name should be noted. Since he is a Republican, his name is

included separately in the 3rd paragraph.

He did the right thing.

[idwiyo]

68. My bad, missed it at first reading. Sorry.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

51. I remember writing Kerry

And calling John Kerry's office pleadingly stating that it was his job too slow that madness down.
Over, and over. I was so angry at his vote. I felt he betrayed us all.

[KoKo]

59. OMG...the letters I wrote followed by replies that made me wonder

...WHO ARE THEY!

And the DU Activists Groups...who worked so hard "phoning, faxing and ON THE GROUND!

Many were thrown under the BUS in few years past here...but they worked thier BUTTS OFF and got TRASHED BY DEM PARTY LEADERSHIP and then the BLOGS for doing it later on.

Sorry Stuff. Makes me re-living it.

[Fearless]

67. Whereas Kennedy saw right through the BS

[PuraVidaDreamin]

73. He was a treasure

Thankful Ms. Warren has rightly and justly reclaimed his seat. She sees through
The bull.

[politicasista]

79. And Kennedy and Warren respect Kerry

Last edited Wed Mar 20, 2013, 01:49 AM - Edit history (1)

IMO, if Kennedy were alive today, he would appalled at the non-stop hatred of Kerry from people who love to brag and say "we knew better, you didn't ha, ha, ha!"

And Warren would be appalled also. Both of them praised Kerry, so has Obama. Obama respects him. (How dare that Obama name a Pro-War VP, SOS, and SOD!).

People always have an axe to grind with Kerry one way or another. Join the club. Join those Democrats and Liberals who still bash him over what happened with Amb Rice. Join those who let Bush off the hook.


Keep doing your thing Mr. Secretary (you too Mr. VPOTUS). Uncle Ted is smiling down on you and still has your backs. Haters gone hate!

[Fearless]

124. No one is hating Kerry

But he did make a mistake voting for the Iraq War. It happens. But it was still a mistake.

[politicasista]

125. It sounds like everyone does n/t

Last edited Thu Mar 21, 2013, 11:22 PM - Edit history (2)

[politicasista]

82. And he could see through people still hating on Kerry

Last edited Wed Mar 20, 2013, 01:54 AM - Edit history (1)

for one vote, when it's one dude and his party that owns this.

Proud of him for always sticking up for Kerry, while people bash him and praise others Senators in the same sentence. Guess some in MA never appreciated him, but at least Obama, Biden, Warren do, and Uncle Ted did.

Guess everything are just litmus tests now.

Despite all that, Kerry will do good as SOS despite the bashers (and in this thread).

Kerry is still making Kennedy proud while haters stay running their mouths behind the anonymity of their keyboards/iPads.

Bush and the GOP lied, but who cares.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

88. No clue what you are talking about hating

Just telling you about how disappointed I was with that vote, and I have never had
The same respect for him or his integrity since. But nearly all politicians have earned my distrust.
That was Kerry's biggest mistake ever. And I wonder if he at all regrets it, because still the last soldier
Has not died there.

Do please try to be human.

[politicasista]

90. IMO, That's hating

Saying you don't have respect for anyone and attack their integrity because of one vote. You probably said some stuff about Obama, so go figure.

I am human. I am not perfect. I made some mistakes in life. OTOH, You're perfect. You have never made a single mistake in your life. I get it. 99% of the other life experiences are not important.

As for the mistake, Kerry has said many times it was wrong, more than most. You can listen or just close your eyes and cover your ears. Your choice.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021975083#post37

I stand by my comments. Kerry will do well as SOS. I appreciate Sen. Warren's heartfelt remarks about Kerry during his SOS confirmation hearing.

Uncle Ted's Irish eyes are smiling in heaven. Very sure he is proud of/that Kerry served as the Senior Senator and people of MA, and now the US and the world as SOS.




Looks like have picked the wrong day to post here. To each his/her own.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

91. Nice that you know so much about me

A peace and social justice activist who has been arrested, who teaches yoga and is an RN. As about
Imperfectly human as it gets. I will wish healing light for your heart, my heart and all sentient beings.

[politicasista]

123. Ok n/t

[blm]

105. When Kerry followed through on his promise to oppose war if weapon inspections proved

force was not needed, did you notice and give him credit for it at the time? Or even today? As far as I remember Kerry was the ONLY IWR voter who publicly stood with Hans Blix and weapon inspectors over Bush's decision to invade. He was heavily criticized for it by the pro-war crowd and yet, many on the left refused to credit him for the responsibility of his follow through, and as stated consistently in his actual position.

[Hotler]

53. My list of DUers that took to the streets in mass to protest the Iraq invasion.....

[Canuckistanian]

54. Glad to be exempted from that list

Proud, in fact.

[TommyCelt]

56. I bought it initially....BUT

I wasn't a DU'er at the time.

[mountain grammy]

57. March 19, 2003, we were buried under 5 feet of snow. Denver got about 3 feet.

All protests were canceled. I was plowing and shoveling for an entire day thinking the snow was as deep as the bullshit coming out of the White House.
My Congressman, Mark Udall voted against the resolution. I felt like someone was listening.

[lpbk2713]

70. Hey, my name's not on that list.

And it better not be either.

BushCo's first big coup was the theft of the Y2K selection.

For an encore they came up with their bogus war.

[w4rma]

71. Add me to that list.

http://election.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x27269

[Rosa Luxemburg]

74. That's a long list!

m husband wore a 'Stop the War' notice around his neck on the Marc trani to DC and he got surrounded and threatened!

[RagAss]

75. I turned my back on half of the people I knew that day.

Good riddance.

[SidDithers]

77. DU rec...

Sid

[WCGreen]

78. Waiting for Godot......

[Rex]

81. As opposed to all the Congress people

that rushed to sign on. No one here bought the garbage. Spot on.

[flvegan]

83. Don't blame me, I voted for Kucinich. n/t

[applegrove]

84. I totally bought Powell's justifications.

I also believed because the US had air superiority that the Iraqis would stand down and civilians would not be casualties. I thought it would take a few weeks. That is what you get when you grow up in a military oriented family. There were a few more reasons why I thought it was a good idea. But, for the life of me I cannot remember them. My bad.

[politicasista]

86. Don't want to interrupt the Dem bashing

fest.

Gotta brag on how right we were and throw decent Dems under the bus.

Wish Obama and Congress could repeal the IWR so we can move forward. Sick of decent people (Liberal Democrats) here being disrespected and hated on because of one vote.

[sabrina 1]

96. That one vote cost millions of lives. If ordinary people got it right without the

access to information elected officials had, and over one hundred smart Democrats got it right, then those who did not and cast one of the most important votes of their political careers for an obvious lie from obvious liars, they do not belong in politics. In any other job if you got something so important, so wrong, your career would be over. And so long as the American people continue to look the other way when someone they like makes such a tragic mistake, IF it was a mistake, we will continue to go around the world killing people.

I will never support anyone for public office who supported Bush's devastating policies in any way.

[joshcryer]

89. A lot of people believed that.

But those of us who knew neocon policies knew that Bush wanted to own Iraq, which is why he disbanded the Iraqi police and army and didn't pay them. They were, if you remember, relegated to a barbed wire fenced in area with soldiers there to keep them in basically a concentrated-camp type environment. This persisted for many months and the security forces were never able to reconstitute.

[Rex]

120. Hmm...grew up in a military family

and never saw it that way. Just goes to show ya.

[applegrove]

122. I also had read the article in the Nation magazine about what Saddam did to those

Marsh people of southern Iraq who had risen up against him.

[Mr Dixon]

97. IMO

The lack of coverage of the anti-war march was a confirmation that the elitist media owner’s control this country. Sit down peasants and send me your kids to kill and be killed for my profits.

[FairWinds]

99. I recall March, 2003 . .

Support for the war was about 84% in the US at that time.

Most of our marching did not accomplish much, but in San Francisco nearly 3,000 people were arrested for civil disobedience (mostly blocking streets & bridges). Next time (like when they try to steal Social Security?) we will ALL need to do that. The arrest of 5 million (or more) people cannot be ignored. I'm in - how about you?

[paparush]

100. Our Govt Waged a Deliberate Prolonged Psy-Ops War Against Us and the World

They knew exactly what they were doing.

PNAC spelled it out. Cheney, et al, put the plan in motion.

Despite massive global protests, they did it anyway.

[JPZenger]

101. If you read Knight-Ridder newspaper coverage at the time, you didn't believe the warmongers

The mass media was reporting whatever the warmonger cabal said, and getting special interviews with them. Meanwhile, the Washington Bureau of the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain couldn't get that access to the big names. So, instead, they developed contacts with mid-level professionals in the State Dept. and the Pentagon. It was a treasure trove of reality that showed how the country was being deceived - in real time while the deceit was occurring.

If only more people had paid attention to that excellent investigative journalism, there never would have been an invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Unfortunately, that newspaper chain was sold off, and the bureau was taken over by a much smaller chain of papers.

---------
Another person who didn't believe the lies was Sen. Graham of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He had access to much of the raw intelligence before it was "processed" by Cheney's boys. (If only Al Gore had picked Graham as his VP, he would have easily won Florida in 2000, and there never would have been an Iraq invasion.)

[Rob H.]

108. There was at least one McClatchy paper sounding the alarm

that the so-called evidence was complete BS, too, but I can't remember which one. I saw a documentary about the run-up to the Iraq war and the two main reporters who were covering it at that newspaper were flabbergasted that other papers were still pushing Bush's lies.

The worst part is, the vast majority of evidence they found was a matter of public record--they said that found a lot of evidence just using LexisNexis. It's kind of depressing to realize that if other reporters at other papers had actually, you know, done their jobs, maybe a lot of them would've been sounding the alarm, too.

[JPZenger]

127. McClatchey took over Knight-Ridder Washington Bureau

The McClatchey chain took over ownership of several Knight-Ridder papers several years ago, and they got control of the Washington Bureau staff that was reporting the truth.

[Rob H.]

130. Excellent!

I actually worked for a Gannett newspaper years ago in Idaho, and they were sickeningly right wing. (They also broke the union before I was hired and subsequently treated their employees like shit, too, no surprise.) Their coverage leading up to the 2000 (s)election was just god-awful but I don't know what their coverage of the run-up to the Iraq war was like--I left there in 2000 and even though I still lived in Idaho I never read that paper again. (It was such a horrible employment experience that I haven't bought another newspaper since, in fact.)

[CrispyQ]

102. Many of us lost friends & had great difficulty with family.

The uniter did it again.

[olegramps]

103. Remember this fact: Jeb Bush was a member the PNAC who are responsible for the tragedy.

[NewJeffCT]

104. I wasn't a DUer until Oct of 2003

and, I didn't even know liberal websites like DU, DailyKos, TPM, etc even existed until not long before that.

However, even though I only knew mainstream media at the time, I knew it was a rush to war and that they were ginning up fear to get public opinion behind them.

My thought was that even if Iraq did have WMD, we should use weapons inspectors to find them. And, if worse came to worse, use special forces to sneak in and disable the WMD. I never favored a whole invasion and occupation.

[barbtries]

106. that matches my list too.

interesting isn't it.

[AtheistCrusader]

107. I was on the wrong side, but only for one reason, and only under certain criteria.

I saw the conclusion of the proposed invasion as a way to end the crippling, murdering, starving sanctions we had maintained against Iraq for a decade+.

I fought to have those sanctions lifted, but this seemed the only way to actually get it done in the then-political climate toward Iraq.

And for even that, I am sorry. There was a better way, we just didn't have the support. And now we go down the same road with Iran...

[caseymoz]

109. What a relief! nt

[Bohemianwriter]

110. Never a single word he have said has been true about GWB and IRaq

[SCVDem]

111. Air America

Let's not forget AA.

It kept me sane while America went Ultra nationalistic.

[harun]

112. Candidate for best post ever ;-)

[Avalux]

113. I was here then and didn't believe the lies. Still here, still know the truth.

PNAC/Bushco wanted a war, the media helped them force it down this country's throat. I posted a lot about PNAC back then, knew from the beginning what they were doing, and watched in horror as they got away with it. War criminals, every single one of them.

[LibDemAlways]

114. There was no justification. PNAC spelled it out. They wanted to

launch a "New American Century" and needed a catastrophic event to launch their war. They got it on 9/11 and then it was all systems go. The "evil-doers" turned out to be Bush. Cheney, et. al.

[SmittynMo]

118. Can someone explain to me why we can't prosecute his ass,

and all his staff involved. I especially want Darth Vader (Cheney) in jail for life. Be sure we torture his ass during his tenure. Surely there is enough to prosecute them. I didn't think any man/woman was exempt from the law. If this happened in any organization, what do you think would happen?

[midnight]

129. Because the polices of one administration should not be prosecuted by the new administration...

I think it came down to that explanation in the first Obama administration....

[SmittynMo]

131. This is total bullshit

So if anyone commits a Jody Aires crime just before they are removed from office, they go scott free? What's wrong with that picture?
For God's sake, this is the 21st century. And we live by laws such as this? Something has to change.

[Scootaloo]

121. Lies never die, and the truth gets exhausted fighting them.