Historical Revisionism

Love the war or hate it, or come somewhere in between, but let's get the facts straight.

Senator Webb said last night:

... I think we need some clarity, because what the administration is saying today does not necessarily mean this is what it is intending to do in the near term or in the mid term. And we saw that, really, with all the rhetoric that came out in the invasion of Iraq.

We know now from history that the administration had decided to invade Iraq by September of '02. It got the authorization to invade Iraq in October of '02. And all the way up until March of '03, it was saying that it still wanted to use diplomacy. So let's clear the air here.

That's utter nonsense. We knew Bush's position in September 2002: regime change in Iraq. Bush was explicit at the time:

"The American people know my position," he said. "And that is that regime change [in Iraq] is in the interest of the world."

Bush was clear in September 2002: his intent was that either Iraq change regime peacefully, or we would do it by force. We tried diplomacy to achieve regime change. We offered Hussein the opportunity to comply fully and immediately with UN Resolution 1441; he did not. We offered Hussein the chance to leave Iraq peacefully; he did not. So we used force, just as Bush all along said he planned to do.

Anyone who thinks otherwise just wasn't paying attention.

You can disagree with the policy. You can think he didn't give Hussein enough of a chance. But let's not pretend he didn't do exactly what he said he would do. And when Senator Clinton says she never thought Bush would use the authority she voted to give him, let's not pretend she is being truthful.