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The buck stops where? Our delusional president laments the "intelligence failure" that identified nonexistent WMD in Iraq and admits he was "unprepared" for war. Joan Walsh [2008-12-03]

• @JohnTFrazer

  John T Frazer: "I was just pointing out that Groenhagen's crucifying of Clinton is not the blow to the left that he seems to think it is."

  Okay, we're in agreement then.

  I was no fan of much about Bill Clinton's policy. Clinton's policy toward Iraq was one of leaving a bad situation in stasis because other sorts of action would make things worse. I don't know what he could have or should have done differently, there, though there are plenty of theories. I think it was a question of choosing one's battles. Bush chose HIS battles, and I think he chose poorly.

  Another thing about the fact that Democrats voted to authorize war powers to Bush Jr.: Nobody here has mentioned that this vote was presented, by Republicans, just 3 weeks prior to the 2002 Congressional elections. This hardly excuses the Democrats' votes, and I will never forgive them for the way they handled it. But people need to remember that the vote was set up as a political ploy designed to favor the Republican interests. If the Dems voted for war, they'd give Bush the power he wanted; if the Dems voted against war, many of them would be voted out of office, further weakening what marginal power they had remaining. I think for Dems it was a roll of the dice consisting of, "Do I vote against this B.S. and lose my seat, and all the potential to do good things in the future, or do I hold my nose and hope against hopes that Bush is not a crazy warmongering bastard?"

  But we forget about that...

  -- Xrandadu Hutman
  [Read Xrandadu Hutman's other letters]
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