posted on October 17, 2003 01:55:13 PM new
KD - Yes, they did support the 'going to war'. And, of course, I applaud those who did, but I'm speaking of the here and now.
Right now both the Senate and the House are working on how much $$, if any, should be going towards our effort in Iraq. If funding were not to be approved...Bush would be forced to bring our troops home.
So I ask where are all the democrats who are saying I'm NOT voting to continuing funding this illegal/inappropiate war, we need to bring our troops home?
Cheryl's Mr. K has taken a stand on it...I believe Dean has said he won't vote for the funding....but there are few other democrats [that I'm aware of] that are willing to put their vote where there objections to this war are. Even Clark won't give an opinion/take a stand, on this issue. He's been quoted as saying something along the line of 'I don't have to vote for or against it....so I'm not stating my opinion'.
I believe the reason is one of two things. Either they DO support our efforts in Iraq, or they're chickens and don't want the wrath of those who voted them into office down their necks because they took that stance.
posted on October 17, 2003 03:13:10 PM new"I believe the reason is one of two things. Either they DO support our efforts in Iraq, or they're chickens and don't want the wrath of those who voted them into office down their necks because they took that stance."
You might be right. I've wondered about that too. But there seems to be some kind of mindset, that you don't go against any President that calls for war, or you'll be deemed a traitor and un-American. Viet Nam comes to mind. People were killed for their anti-war efforts.
posted on October 17, 2003 03:41:49 PM new
That was the mindset established before the war. Remember the flagwaving, patriotic atmosphere and the rush that led to that vote. The situation today has changed and now, most people know that they were misled and will not let it happen so easily again. The world knows that Bush's war is a disaster, Americans know it and the soldiers who are in Iraq know it. If they were chickens then, they will not be so easily led astray now.
Kennedy describes the situation perfectly.
"Our men and women in uniform fought bravely and brilliantly, but the president's war has been revealed as mindless, needless, senseless, and reckless," Kennedy says, according to the text of his speech. "We should never have gone to war in Iraq when we did, in the way we did, for the false reasons we were given."
Nearly six months have elapsed since President Bush flew out to the aircraft carrier and declared `Mission Accomplished' in Iraq," Kennedy says. "Today, we all know all too well that the war is not over; the war goes on; the mission is not accomplished. An unnecessary war, based on unreliable and inaccurate intelligence, has not brought an end to danger. Instead, it has brought new dangers, imposed new costs, and taken more and more American lives each week. We all agree that Saddam Hussein was a murderous tyrant, and his brutal regime was an affront to basic human decency. But Iraq was not a breeding ground for terrorism. Our invasion has made it one."
He continues: "All the administration's rationalizations as we prepared to go to war now stand revealed as double-talk. The American people were told Saddam Hussein was building nuclear weapons. He was not. We were told he had stockpiles of other weapons of mass destruction. He did not. We were told he was involved in 9/11. He was not. We were told Iraq was attracting terrorists from Al Qaeda. It was not. We were told our soldiers would be viewed as liberators. They are not. We were told Iraq could pay for its own reconstruction. It cannot. We were told the war would make America safer. It has not."
