Fact: Rick Santorum did not vote for the Iraq war

[JVS]

He voted for a resolution that gave Bush the authority to send U.S. troops into Iraq without UN approval. The decision to send troops into Iraq was Bush's and Bush's alone.

The worst you can say about Santorum is that he's a bad judge of character (actually I could think of some more things, but that is another thread). And many here do blame Santorum and others in the Senate for approving the McCain-Lieberman resolution and leaving the decision to go to war entirely up to Bush. However, I need to point out that the alternative resolution, sponsored by Biden and Lugar, would also have allowed Bush to send troops into Iraq without further Congressional action.

Finally, I would like to point out that one of the arguments made in support of the McCain-Lieberman resolution -- indeed, Lieberman himself made this argument -- was that the best way to avoid war was to send a very clear signal to the UN that the US was prepared to act alone if the UN refused to take forceful action against Iraq. And the fact is, after passage of the McCain-Lieberman resolution, the Bush administration did go to the UN and the UN did restart the inspections process.

Unfortunately, this explanation is too large to fit on a bumper sticker. So instead, all we hear are people on both the left and the right repeating ad nauseum that Santorum voted for the war.

(Personally, I'm sure that if I had been in Santorum's position, I would have voted for the McCain-Lieberman resolution too. I certainly supported it at the time, and believe that a strong stand was needed in order to get the UN to move on the inspections front.)

:-)

[Moderator]

1. Locking.

This is a continuation of a flame war in a separate post, something not permitted under DU rules.

--DU Moderator