why did the Congress (Dem and repuke alike) allow Iraq to happen?

[leftofthedial]

They claim they were misled, misinformed and didn't know . . .

But WE knew. It didn't take us posh digs in DC and millions in corporate campaign bribes to know that there were no WMD's, that Iraq was not involved in 9-11 and that Iraq posed no threat to the US.

I am ill-prepared to forgive ANY of those who enabled the new Third Reich to launch the Halliburton Crusade.


on edit:

No WMD's
torture
100's of thousands of casualties
2500 dead American soliders
slaughter of innocent civilians
closing in on a trillion dollars, with no end in sight
destruction of Iraq's infrastructure
opened a swath of the center of the Middle East to Islamic fundamentalist
Civil war
transformation of one of the most westernized nations in the ME into a medieval religious theocracy
tens of billions of dollars just plain missing

[skipos]

1. I wasn't as against the war then as much as I am now.

I made the mistake of believing the information that I was seeing (Powell's presentation being one). I made a mistake but at least I learned from it.

[leftofthedial]

24. believing that Powell cares about anything other than Powell

has ALWAYS been a mistake

I'm glad you learned.

[blm]

2. Bush was going in with the original UN res from 1991 if he had to -

the negotiations on the IWR managed to get Iran and Syria taken OFF the table, and that's something people tend to forget.

Bush HAD guidelines and any president would have implemented those guidelines.

Bush did NOT - he violated key points of the IWR, just as he would have ANY resolution - and those who blame the IWR help to take the focus off of Bush for being in VIOLATION of it. You make Bush's preferred point - that he HAD to go to war and IWR fully supported war. It did, but ONLY AFTER weapons inspections and diplomacy which turned out to be working favorably for PREVENTING WAR - so Bush LIED when he said he HAD to start military action.

Don't let Bush off the hook.

[leftofthedial]

8. of course I don't let king george off the hook

he's the hood ornament on the fascist hummer of destruction

they are the heart of evil

but congress were (and most still are) accomplices

[blm]

17. Divide them in categories - those who wouldn't have gone in after weapons

inspections proved invasion unnecessary, and those who agreed with Bush even AFTER weapons inspections and diplomacy were working.

It's a big difference that the media REFUSES to make.

[leftofthedial]

25. death by long, slow, painful torture

death by hanging

death by lethal injection


how about those categories?

[cigsandcoffee]

3. I don't buy that they were misled.

These are big boys and girls, and the information to oppose this war was out there. I think they rolled the dice, fearful that the operation would be the succesful "cakewalk" the administration promised that it would be, and that they'd be left out of the credit for it. I have a hard time not giving them some "credit" for what did happen.

[leftofthedial]

9. politicians

capitalists

bastards

murderers

traitors

[laundry_queen]

31. You are so right.

Heck I was 9 months pregnant on bedrest watching CNN and *I* knew it was ALL BULLSHIT. They didn't want to sacrifice their precious political careers 'in case' everything went well. Fuckers.

[The Wielding Truth]

41. Exactly how it appeared to me. Leaders need insight ,wisdom and the

courage to go after the truth.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. America must realize ever increasing profits to shore up her

aging population. Anything that benefits corporate America benefits the lower and middle class. The sky is green, water is dry, I'm being serious.

[leftofthedial]

26. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

[dogday]

5. I have always been against the war

and I hate it with a passion now.. It has become personal to me and I have a vested interest in the ending of it, and all the other wars this deceitful administration conjured up with lies, and inuendo...

[leftofthedial]

28. how do we hold the war mongering profiteers accountable?

:shrug:


they'll just keep doing it over and over again if we don't stop them

[dogday]

32. Who was it that said we had to throw the

voting machines in the bay? Someone posted that would be our tea-party...

[leftofthedial]

33. that's a start

but some of our allegedly democratic "leaders" are culpable.

[derby378]

6. I've been asking myself that question since 2003...

It would have been so easy for Congress to tell Bush "no." We even had control of the Senate back in 2002, when much of the groundwork for the actual invasion was being laid down.

[leftofthedial]

29. and the "democrats" in congress just keep caving and caving and caving

what do we do?

our government has been seized by trreasonous crooks

our party has been seized by turncoat appeasers

[Trajan]

7. It stunk from the very start ...

They SHOULD have known this was a rigged game .....

The mere fact that Osama bin Laden was allowed to wander freely, after being permitted to escape at Tora Bora, should have rang warning bells across the land ....

WE heard those bells; in fact - WE told them so .....

Yet they didnt listen to us, their constituents, they instead lapped up Neocon drivel like mothers milk ... mesmerized by a drooling, beady eyed, phony cowboy IDIOT from Texaconnecticut ...

The moment the military was swung around and pointed to Mesopotamia, the 'War On Terror' stopped ....

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. It wasn't the Congress. It was the American people.

They should take responsibility. The scared-ass Dems were scared precisely because the American people wanted the war - hell, any war. Kill kill destroy. Wipe away the blood from 9/11: kill anyone, anything that will make us forget, make us whole again. Regeneration through violence, same old story. We're all going to have to take collective responsibility for this catastrophe. And yes, I know, you were always against the war. So was I. That's irrelevant. This is the product of a sickness in the American psyche. And it's going to radiate out until everybody gets a taste of it. Blame America first? For this? You damn skippy. America is to blame, and the sooner we start dealing with that, the sooner we can find some new way. THis is truly a case in which the Congress faithfully represented the wishes of the Americans, and that needs to be addressed.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. I think you hit it right on the head

I would only change one notion .... I don't think it was a purely American phenomenon. Most any country (Yea team!) **would** do the same thing. The difference is that America **could** do it.

And sadly, we did.

[leftofthedial]

19. MILLIONS of ordinary people marched in opposition

too bad a couple hundred million people are either criminals themselves or couldn't be bothered

yes, there is a sickness at the heart of the Murkan psyche, as evidenced horribly by this war on the truth, our absurd overconsumption, our lazy acceptance of the neocon coup, our apathy, our narcissism, our contempt for culture and diversity . . .

[AndyTiedye]

40. The News Media is Not Our "Psyche", Despite Their Claims to the Contrary

Who told you that we care more about "American Idol" than the Iraq war? Faux News, of course.

The war on truth was carried out on Wall Street, where the right wing has bought up all of our TV and radio stations, and now the newspapers.
We lost.

What you see is not acceptance (what is their approval rating again?), it is resignation.

[madaboutharry]

11. I keep wondering myself.

Why is it when Colin Powell spoke before the U.N. I knew he was full of shit? Little ol' me didn't believe a word coming out of his lying mouth. I really don't get it. Our elected officials are either dumb as rocks or just a bunch of cowards afraid to speak the truth.

[moobu2]

12. No one was misled, no one in Washington that is..... they knew.

I knew Iraq didn’t have any weapons of mass destruction and I’m just an average working class guy from Alabama. You know the people in charge knew they didn’t have WMD‘s. I can understand somewhat why it was so easy to fool the average person, because of 9.11, and the insidious fear tactics this administration used with all the fake terror alerts and lies. The neocons were methodical and our representatives and MSM rolled over.

I was one of those that supported the Afghanistan invasion because I thought they would go after Osama and remove the Talaban, free the people, and bring democracy, you know, naive stuff like that, but the moment they turned their attention toward Iraq, I knew the WMD shit was a bunch a lies.

Anyway, I do not believe in the slightest bit that any law makers or the Prez were misled.

[leftofthedial]

34. so they are not only traitors

they are liars

how do we hold accountable the treasonous, lying dems who support the neocon agenda?

We can't vote for a repuke--they're worse.

[W_HAMILTON]

14. 9/11

It was just that whole sentiment surrounding 9/11. After 9/11, the country was united, not divided like it is today. The majority of Americans, and probably even the majority of politicians, had no reason to think that Bush was going to go on to be the colossal failure that we know him to be today. Most people didn't know that he was going to go on and be the type of president we know him as today. So I imagine a lot of the politicians voted for the Iraq resolution to show they stood behind their president, and because most of them didn't realize that he was a deceitful scumbag.

So that's why, yes, I understand people that say they wouldn't vote for it today. Who in their right mind should? I wouldn't be as angry with those that voted for it, as those who still today say they would vote for it. Those are the ones with problems. I can understand how, back then, some were fooled by Bush. But no one should be fooled by him now.

[leftofthedial]

35. I couldn't disagree more with the premise that

a) Murka was united--immediately prior to the invasion, the country was almost perfectly split nearly 50-50 on the prospect of invasion

b) politicians or Murkans had no reason to believe king george would lie--he's been a liar since he was a little boy; he can't open his pie hole without lying

c) he was ALREADY the kind of president he is today--he was just getting away with it because so many "democrats" in congress helped him and because most Murkans are as dumb as a box of rocks. I didn't "understand" them then and I don't understand them now. If you supported the invasion of Iraq or voted in favor of giving George Bush the powers that allowed him to invade Iraq, you are an accomplice to crimes against humanity. Period.

[W_HAMILTON]

44. Doesn't mean it's not true

If everyone in America knew what those on DU knew, he wouldn't have had a 50-70% approval rating in the months leading up to the Iraq war. I'm not talking about what the public thought about a possible invasion with Iraq, I'm talking about what the public thought about Bush at that time.

This was after 9/11, when the country was still relatively united; the Afghanistan war had gone reasonably well. There was no Iraq war, and all the problems from that. There was no Katrina. The leak investigation hadn't erupted. No one knew about the illegal spying. Nobody knew about the illegal wiretapping. <Insert all the other problems here>

Most of the colossal Bush f*ck-ups came after the war with Iraq began. Whether you want to admit it or not, it's not that difficult to see why people were fooled by him back then. The fact that he has an approval rating now almost half of what it was back then shows that many Americans have come around to realize Bush as the deceitful person he is. So yes, if people were fooled by him back then, I understand, but no one should be fooled by him now; he's shown his deceitfulness and incompetence numerous times over since then, and it should be apparent to all that he is a fraud.

As you said, many Americans are probably as dumb as a bunch of rocks, so why do you find it surprising that so many were fooled by him?

[The Wielding Truth]

43. And yet Hayden is in. We are still fighting in Iraq and Bin laden is free.

The Constitution means what BushCo wants.

"But no one should be fooled by him now.

"Yea, and .....?

[W_HAMILTON]

45. Blame those Democrats who still go along with him

The public obviously doesn't agree with Bush anymore, yet some Democratic politicians continue to shy away from confronting Bush on what he has done to this country. Back then, it's maybe understandable, but now it's not. People say they are laying low until the elections, but I don't believe they will do much to challenge this president even after the elections, even if we do win back part or all of Congress.

Maybe they're still afraid of a backlash. Who knows? I wouldn't mind stronger Democratic leaders when it comes to issues like this. I understand we are the party of free-thinking, but it shouldn't be a debate when it comes to violating constitutional principles. Why the Democrats can't all stand united on something as simple as that, I have no idea.

[The Wielding Truth]

46. I think it has to do with ethics and courage. These reps aren't running

for the right reasons or they aren't allowed to be true to them in office. That's why I like Dean,Kucinich,Gore and even that McKinney(sp?). They stand for something. It's good,and I think it's ethics and courage. They have a basic true allegiance to the earth and it's people, and that's us.

Yea. that's what I like. I don't want to be bought off or saved. I just want leaders to think of the whole picture and remember we all live here and we don't want to our government to make us Christians.

I want to have decisions made by reps to be based on the Constitution not Corp profits.

[gully]

15. Who's they? Over 130 Democrats voted against the war.

"They" allowed it to happen as much as Bernie Sanders and the American Public, including you and I did.

[leftofthedial]

20. I'm not asking about the ones who didn't

I'm asking about the ones who did

especially those who are now pointing fingers at others for having "misled" them

[sandnsea]

49. You're not "asking" about anything

Because this topic has been beat to death around here, you've taken part, so at this point it's nothing but intentional divisiveness and disruption to post threads like this.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. The mood of the country was for war.

Stirred up by the media, flagwaving, strutting, and "patriotisim".

Of course, the politicians, acted just as politicians always do. They checked the polls, pandered to fearful, and did what was wrong in order to save their precious seats at the trough.

Politicians don't lead. They follow the money and the votes.

[leftofthedial]

22. $$$ and power and privilege

[Tsiyu]

18. Neocons planned it for $$$ and world domination

Repuke and Dem CongressWeasels went along because DC is such a corrupt, scandalous place, everybody was blackmailed into compliance.

And it appears they are starting the process all over again with Iran

[leftofthedial]

21. $$$$$$

capitalism strikes again

[Tsiyu]

27. Capitalism with a Fundy Christian twist

Thou shalt not murder, unless oil and defense contracts are involved.

Thou shalt not bear false witness, unless you need fake WMD's to produce higher profits

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's ox or ass but you can covet his oil
reserves all you like

Ditto on that "Thou shalt not steal" bit


Signed,


Jeebus Gawd

[leftofthedial]

30. Puh-raze Jeebiz

and give me my money

[MichiganVote]

23. One word: Spineless

[leftofthedial]

36. I believe it was more calculating than spineless

I'm angrier by the day for the insanity that we have allowed to take over our country

[MichiganVote]

37. Oh,no doubt. But for the majority, war means money for their corp.

supporters, those opposing the war have been predictably vilified as anti-american and not one congressman or woman has launched a serious attack against all this pork spending. Delay and his bunch surely caluclated the risk of flying in face of reason and legalities. Were it not for some in the Justice Dept. with balls, he'd still be in power.

[TahitiNut]

38. When there's a bar fight, nobody's watching the cash register.

:shrug:

[leftofthedial]

48. there's the trouble

[Terran1212]

39. Congress rarely stops wars

It's good for business -- so it will happen.

[subterranean]

42. Because Saddam was a grave threat

to our freedom and security and way of life. He used chemical weapons against his own people. He defied the U.N. resolutions and kicked the inspectors out so he could stockpile the most lethal weapons ever devised. He was a dangerous dictator bent on world domination. He had to be stopped. 9/11 changed everything, and we had to confront threats before they materialized. Because all it would take was one crate, one canister, one tiny vial slipped into this country undetected to bring a day of horror unlike any we have ever known. We couldn't wait for the smoking gun to come in the form of a mushroom cloud.

Of course I mean this as :sarcasm: but these claims are what Bush and Co. used to terrorize the American people. We can argue that our Congresspersons should have been more skeptical, but I can see how it might have been difficult for them to oppose the Republican fear campaign without any hard evidence to refute it. We can only hope they learned something from the experience.

[BlooInBloo]

47. Easy. republicans are evil, and Democrats are cowards.

We're working to change 1/2 of that equation right now (Nedreneline! Nedreneline! Nedreneline!).

It would be nice if the other 1/2 would work on the other 1/2, but I wouldn't count on it.