I guess I'm freaking out but before this goes any further...

[BayouBengal07]

What do we say about Democratic Congressmen/women who voted for the war? Were they just misled by Bush? We all say NOW that we knew there were no WMDs, but a lot of people back in early 2003 (myself included) were weary of Iraq's (percieved) weapons capabilities.

[MichiganVote]

1. We say what they would say...

"The republicans made me do it"

[knowbody0]

2. it is clear they were lied to

but now that that is COMMON KNOWLEDGE they all need to deal with it the way our constitution demands.

[Wickerman]

3. I'll judge them by the way they handle themselves now

Will they work to see the charges through? Will they defend the US against ALL enemies, foreign AND Domestic? If not, I will have no use for them.

[liberaliraqvet26]

4. put it in the past...

when I first went to Iraq I also bought into the lies. It was a mistake that I am embarassed to admit. Since then I have put all my energy into ending the war and getting these fascist tyrants out of office. We need all the support we can get and the tide is shifting, I just watched the bipartisan press conference with Reps Kucinich-D, Abercombie-D, Jones-R, and Paul-R and have more hope than I had when I saw the exit polls on Nov 2nd. Lets not open old wounds and divide us like the Republicans are becoming more and more every day.

[Dr Fate]

5. "They were wrong to trust Bush. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Hopefully they learned that you cant work with liars & criminals."

[RoyGBiv]

6. That's rather simple. . .

Not sure why this would cause anyone to freak out. If you've taken note of recent events, the Bush administration fixed intelligence to make Iraq's weapons capabilities seem more of a threat than they were, presented this information to Congress and the American public in order to engender support for a war with that country, and it was upon that lie that many Democratic representatives based their decision to vote support for the war.

[BayouBengal07]

8. Yeah

"If you've taken note of recent events, the Bush administration fixed intelligence to make Iraq's weapons capabilities seem more of a threat than they were, presented this information to Congress and the American public in order to engender support for a war with that country"


I certainly won't argue with that. I know they cherrypicked the intel. But even prior to the Bush administration, throughout the 90s, Dems said Iraq was a WMD threat.


I hate to open old wounds, but I just know some Freepers going to confront me over this.

[RoyGBiv]

13. Take a lesson ...

Watch John Conyers closely and learn how to frame a debate. Do not let others control the message. Then, simply ask which of those Democratic congress people called for us to engage in a preemptive war and extended occupation of Iraq while lying to the American people, Congress, and the UN about those weapon's capabilities.

You also might re-familiarize yourself with the history of the weapons inspectors and the efforts made in the 90's to ensure Iraq's weapons capabilities were limited. But I suggest that mostly for your own peace of mind. The situation then has only a tangential relationship to the circumstances surrounding this.

[texanwitch]

7. I think they knew, a lot of us knew.

I rode a bus 50 hours to Washington, DC from Houston and 50 hours back for the big protest in 2002.

The Democratic Congressmen/women who voted for the war just didn't have the guts to say Bush was lying.

[Warren Stupidity]

9. They chose to believe lies

Now they have an opportunity to choose the truth. Personally I think John Kerry ought to lead the way for all Democrats who voted for the war to publicly announce that they were lied to and that they were wrong to support the war.

[Erika]

12. How true

Democrats, to a large part, caved in for fear of being called anti-patriot. It was the same thing during the Vietnam war.

[markus]

10. What I'm waiting to see is how Sen. Dorgan handles defending Sen. Conrad

next year.

Conrad voted no, Dorgan (and our single congressman) voted yes.

I'm thinking at this point Dorgan, who is rarely a shrinking violet, comes out swinging against Bush.

[Bravo411]

11. Only Congress can declare war...

At least according to the Constitution. But they choose to instead pass the buck (and the responsibility) to the President. They did it with Clinton and Kosovo. That way if things go to shit, they can always say it was the President's fault.

But in Kosovo, there was a U.N. presence, which means that he was committing troops to an U.N. mission, which is not the same as a war. Bush didn't go in with the U.N. and basically acted a rouge nation essentially declaring war on Iraq, if not in word then in action.

Congress should have never given him the option of taking this course. They should have ordered him to stand down until either the U.N. voted to take action or until Congress voted to take action. The day they voted to let him take military action if all other possible courses of diplomatic action had failed, and as part of a U.N. mission, wasn't that great a deal. The day they stood by and did nothing while he choose to forgo the U.N. and invade was the day democracy in this country took a fatal blow. Everything else that has come after that has been to ensure it stays down for the count.

[uppityperson]

16. One of my senators said she didn't vote to GO to war, just to threaten

when I wrote her urging her to vote no on Iraq. She said that, based on the information she was given, she had to vote yes, and that what she voted for was giving Mr.bush the right to threaten war, not to go to war. I wrote her back that if she truly believed he would not use this to GO to war, she had a problem and would probably lose the next election. I have written her several times since and she has done much better the last couple yrs. I never have said "told you so", but have reminded her of this when urging her to vote against repub bs.

[JoMama49]

14. Well, both my Senators and Congresswomen voted for the

War, and I wrote all of them at the time and begged them not to, but they went ahead anyway and wrote to me with their justifications. Now, they all feel like fools and have written to me telling me so. Ellen Tauscher is especially miffed, and is talking impeachment without me saying anything to her about it!

I expect others might be hella pissed too having been taken for fools, hoodwinked, bushwhacked, snookered, bamboozeled, u name it!
JoMama.

[leesa]

15. You need to deal with the fact that some Dems are just as corrupt and

greedy and demented as Republicans are. Most of them wanted the war because we are truly screwed if we don't have oil. They bought the American idea that if we need the oil we should be able to just take it. Unfortunately it is called stealing and it is immoral.

[VPStoltz]

17. Gutless and spineless

This is one of the reasons the Repugs succeed in so many their incidious adventures - the Dems let them. Reagan had the same thing going for him, and he was initially more evil than Bush. Dems are spineless and basically always trying to please - who? I don't know. Not me. I wish they would stand up en masse and say NO, SIT DOWN, and SHUT THE FUCK UP to those raging idiots not ruining the government.

[VPStoltz]

18. That's NOW ruining the government...

My rage is getting in the way of my fingers.

[texanwitch]

20. I totally agree with you, that is how I feel.

The Democrats have been spineless for so long that it gets harder and harder for them to stand up to Bush.

I hope today is a start. I want my country back.:kick:

[geckosfeet]

19. What did the weapons inspectors say !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why weren't they allowed to do their job !!!!!!!!!!!

Horse hockey !!!

You were wary because shrubbish and Dick and rumbutt and wolfshitz and pullall were all screaming WMD WMD WMD kill you kill you kill you !!

Lest see,,,, years of weapons inspection data???????? Orrrrrr,,, hysterical screaming about WMD's and premature ejaculation. Hmmm,,,,,,