Walter Pincus - Democrats Who - OPPOSED WAR - Move Into Key Positions

[kpete]

Democrats Who Opposed War Move Into Key Positions
New Committee Chairmen Had Warned of Postwar Disorder

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 4, 2006; A04


Although given little public credit at the time, or since, many of the 126 House Democrats who spoke out and voted against the October 2002 resolution that gave President Bush authority to wage war against Iraq have turned out to be correct in their warnings about the problems a war would create.

With the Democrats taking over control of the House next January, the views that some voiced during two days of debate four years ago are worth recalling, since many of those lawmakers will move into positions of power.They include not only members of the new House leadership but also the incoming chairmen of the Appropriations, Armed Services, Budget and Judiciary committees and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (S.C.), a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, was one of several Democrats who predicted during the House floor debate that "the outcome after the conflict is actually going to be the hardest part, and it is far less certain." He credited his views in part to what he heard over breakfasts with retired generals Anthony C. Zinni and Joseph P. Hoar, both of whom had led the U.S. Army's Central Command -- a part of which is in Spratt's district.

"They made the point: We do not want to win this war, only to lose the peace and swell the ranks of terrorists who hate us," Spratt said.

Much more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/03/AR2006120301108_pf.html

[KoKo]

1. Excellent! Pincus derides the WaPo for NOT reporting what 122 Dems Said

when they voted AGAINST the IWR! Good on Pincus for calling out the WaPo for not reporting this.

Those DU'ers who watched C-Span and know about how hard John Spratt worked to get Barbara Lee's Amendment to the vote remember our angst as none of the leading newspapers or TV Media reported on the heroic efforts of those 122 to try to stop the Invasion. They spent hourse on the House Floor pleading for Repugs and reluctant Dems to pass that Amendment...and in the end it went down. Those 122 are heroes! WaPo and NYT are culpable in those killings of our soldiers and the Iraqi's.

Here's what Pincus reports at the very end of the article for those who didn't get to read the whole thing.

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He recalled recently that an amendment by Rep. Barbara T. Lee (D-Calif.) that would have delayed taking action until inspectors from the United Nations completed their work "made sense, but there was no prayer it would pass." It got 72 votes.

-snip-

Lee was described as giving a "fiery denunciation" of the administration's "rush to war," with only 14 colleagues in the House chamber to hear her. None of the reasons she gave to justify her concerns, nor those voiced by other Democratic opponents, was reported in the two Post stories about passage of the resolution that day.

[KoKo]

2. Kick...........

[KoKo]

3. another........