Here's where I get confused re: Iraq

[Clinton Crusader]

MEET THE PRESS – March 21, 2004 - Senator Edward Kennedy defending John
Kerry’s VOTE for the WAR RESOLUTION granting powers to the President:


MR. RUSSERT: Back in 2002, your tone towards the president and the war was
much different. Let me show you. "In this serious time for America and many American families, no one should poison the public square by attacking the patriotism of opponents, or by assailing proponents as more interested in the cause of politics than in the merits of their cause. I reject this, as should we all. Let me say it plainly, I not only concede, but am convinced that President Bush believes genuinely in the course he urges upon us. ...There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein's regime is a serious danger, that he is tyrant, and that his pursuit of lethal weapons of mass destruction cannot be tolerated." What happened? Why did you change your...

SEN. KENNEDY: That's right. War--unilateral decision to go to war; ideological decision; political kind of timing; failure to give the inspectors the full opportunity, the full chance; the misrepresentation on their--here we have--I listened, as a member of that Armed Services Committee, to military leaders of our--some of the most distinguished and heroic military leaders, who absolutely predicted what was going to happen; convinced me to vote against that counterpart. But you wouldn't know that from the political leadership of this Defense Department that gave--"We'll blow through that place. We'll be recognized as liberators. It will be--we'll have the flowers out there. We will be able to pay with this with the oil revenues." They completed distorted, misrepresented the intelligence on it.

SNIP


MR. RUSSERT: You were asked about that in March, and you said, "Clearly we
missed it. ...We should have spotted it. That should have been raised up; it wasn't and I think we bear some responsibility." So the president and the Congress was acting on the same information, and now you're saying the president lied when, in fact, your colleague, Senator Kerry, voted for war, voted for the authorization and said on the floor of the Senate, "Saddam has weapons of mass destruction."

SEN. KENNEDY: The fact is this administration distorted and misrepresented--weapons of mass destruction, Tim--does Syria have weapons of mass destruction? Yes. Does Iran have it? Yes. Did Libya have it? Yes. Does Egypt have it? Yes. Does North Korea have it, this nuclear weapons--yes. So we understand that they had some program. They misrepresent the immediacy. They made the point--when they talk about mushroom cloud, they talk about grave, they talk about the immediate threat, they were talking about an immediate threat.


MR. RUSSERT: Was John Kerry wrong to vote authorization for war?

SEN. KENNEDY: Look, he has explained his position. If John Kerry had been president of the United States with that vote, we never, I don't believe, gone to war, certainly not at that time. He would have worked through the inspection system. He would have worked through the international kinds of system, and I don't personally believe that we would have gone to war.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4573986/

Isn't this the SAME as Hillary's position? How it is she is constantly berated over this but not Kerry??

Sen Kennedy’s defense of John Kerry’s VOTE is Hillary Clinton’s
argument as well.

· The intelligence was distorted.
· They misrepresented the immediacy.
· If Hillary Clinton were President, we would NOT have gone to war. She would have “worked through the inspection system.”
· Hillary would have worked through international kinds of systems.

I don't get it, seriously.