81 Democratics in the House and 29 Democrats in the Senate voted to AUTHORIZE war with Iraq in October 2002.
It’s conveinant to place all of the blame on the Republicans and the President. But to the Lindismiths out there please don’t forget that there were many Democrats who thought a military option would work in the Middle East. There were many Democrats who thought that Democracy would have a chance in Iraq.
Ask yourself this: What exactly did the 110 Democratic Congressmen and Senators who voted FOR the war think would happen after we toppled Saddam? Did they think we would turn it over to another dictator? Doubt it. Did they think we would just leave the country in chaos? No way. I would venture to guess that they, just like the President, had hopes for some kind of democracy in Iraq.
But these 110 Democratic Congressmen and Senators probably never planned for the type of chaos we are now seeing, just like the President didn’t. For that I blame them all for being so blind as to think we could just go in there and leave again by the the summer of 2003. but I blame them ALL, not just Bush. Bush has the added responsibility of failing to respond to the chaos, failing to replace Rumsfeld sooner and putting himself in a ‘state of denial.’ The buck stops with him, and for his failings he delivered the House and Senate to the Democrats.
Let’s not pretend that the Democrats had no part to play in this though. Plently of them thought a military option would work, and plenty of them had hopes for democracy in Iraq.
