An inept process marred by politics and bureaucratic infighting? No !?! Cluck your tongues if you like, NYT, but it sounds alot like the the US government.

I think we're making the wrong comparisons. The decision to invade Iraq was a bipartisan one. Plenty of Democratic senators, including one who will be the new Secretary of State, voted to support the invasion. Their post hoc denials are just trying to weasel out of the consequences of their own decisions. The record is really quite clear.

Yeah. It is. Let's turn to it:

Wikipedia:

"Iraq Resolution" and "Iraq War Resolution" are popular names for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002,[1] a joint resolution (i.e. a law) passed by the United States Congress in October 2002 as Public Law No: 107-243, authorizing the Iraq War.

House of Representatives
Republicans: 215 yes, 6 no
Democrats: 82 yes, 126 no

Senate:
Republicans: 48 yes, 0 no
Democrats: 29 yes, 21 no

adding up all of congress:
263 republicans voted yes, 6 voted no.
111 democrats voted yes, 147 voted no.

I can understand why you'd want to pretend it was bipartisan, but the facts clearly say otherwise.

Feel free to make the argument that senators didn't do due diligence in 2002 and 2003

I certainly hold all the Senators who voted for the war accountable, it is one reason I did not support Hillary.

But there is only one President. That buck can't be passed.

I think I remember those times, as an observer of why things were going to turn out differently than I wanted. The two strongest factors were "fixing the intelligence around the strategy" (see Downing), and the unresolved anger so many Americans still felt about 9/11. It was very easy for the first factor to leverage off the second.

Yes, some lax senators (on both sides) allowed themselves to be swayed by the (directed) anger of the crowd, but that was not the whole or central story.

What I am remembering, specifically with respect to embargoed information was the difference between the classified NIE and the unclassified version. The White House trumpeted the unclassified version as proof of Saddam's WMD (esp. nuke) ambitions. BUT! the senators who saw the classified NIE knew case for aluminum tubes was much dodgier. Now here is where it got sick: if they said that the case was dodgy they were breaking their oath. The were committing treason.

It was a sad, sad, chapter in American democracy.

Posted by Zelsdorf Ragshaft III | December 14, 2008

Nobody said Saddam was a good man and things he may have done I'm sure were terrible, that being said, still did not give Bush the right to invade his country on a pretext of an "imminent threat" to the US!!!!
There are many evil dictators all over the world and the US does not go around getting all of them....this was convenient for Bush to attack Saddam with this nonsensical WMD excuse.
You can't pick and choose which dictator you want to see eliminated on a whim, as they are all equally repressive surely.
No,Bush was going to get Saddam no matter what from day one and 911 was the prefect excuse alongside these infamous WMD's...no doubt about that.

That does not match my recollection, Dave.

Your recollection is flawed.

The Clinton Administration was saying little different than the Bush Administration. And senators have access to plenty of classified intelligence. If they're inclined to look at it.

Feel free to make the argument that senators didn't do due diligence in 2002 and 2003. That's my opinion.

I can't believe how gullible people like yourself after all we know now are still so keen to believe it was actually true!!!!

Keep your shoes on buddy!

Don't you remember, Bush called Iraq an "immanent threat."

Good thing they were invaded before they had time to put together their own fleet to conquer the US and force its inhabitants to convert to Islam and speak Arabic.

Posted by Triumph | December 14, 2008 | 02:44 pm

Oh yes, I remember that well, and boy did he play that up for all it was worth...Iraq was never an imminent threat to the US....that was only in Bush/Rumsfeld and Cheney's dreams!!!
I can't believe how gullible people like yourself after all we know now are still so keen to believe it was actually true!!!!
Still, unfortunately people will hang onto Bush"s every word even now and take it as Gospel and because he is still the President feel they have to be loyal no matter how many lies the administration have told us over the years.
It really is time to wake up about the Bush administration and see what they've really been up to these past 8 years...well, we've seen what they have been up to and it's ruined this country.