(Bill) Clinton says Iraq invasion was a big mistake

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132053866236&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The United States made a "big mistake" when it invaded Iraq, former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday, citing the lack of planning for what would happen after dictator Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

"Saddam is gone. It's a good thing, but I don't agree with what was done, " Clinton told students at the American University of Dubai.

"It was a big mistake. The American government made several errors ... one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country."

Clinton did however say that the United States had done some good things in Iraq: the removal of Saddam, the ratification of a new constitution, and the holding of parliamentary elections.

Wow, what a timely pronouncement.

As Sen. Byrd said during the march to war, the silence was deafening.

I'd respect him more if he had said something at the time.

In his defense, ex-presidents are very slow to criticize their successors, especially on foreign policy issues.

his surrogate in the Senate, what was her excuse?

Does she think that by taking a moderate stance, she's going to reduce the abuse the RW is going to lay on her anyway?

According to the RW, she's been everything but the anti-Christ since 1992. It's not going to change.

spoke up even before that.

Byrd made a fairly emotional case against the invasion, but Gore made an exceptionally lucid and rational case against the invasion. Clinton could have taken his advice, just as he had during their service together...

First off, he is someone who can legitimately say that he is not necessarily against the war, but is very much against how it was executed. In other words, it may have been necessary to take Saddam down at some point, but not the way it was done by W.

Secondly, as a former President he does have to be aware of what he says. Yes, we would all like someone as bright and charasmatic as Bill to stand up and lambast the admin. But that is not a good thing for the country imho. Ex-presidents still have some responsibility to the country to maintain a certain level of decorum.

Finally, I have read where some others are blaming Bill for the rise of the Republicans. No way. The Republicans were already on the rise, and Bill's tenure was pretty much a cult of personality. He stemmed an already rising tide....he didn't cause it.

but staying quiet while our democracy is hijacked, our Bill of Rights trampled, our national reputation trashed and our troops sent off to fight and die in the biggest blunder in American history is quite another.

To me, Clinton's biggest shortcoming was not his open zipper, but rather, his zippered lips.

I was very disappointed in Clinton--not only did he not speak a word
about the election fraud, but he palled around with GHWB (tsunami) and
even with W at the Presidential library dedication. His respectful
treatment of election thieves conferred on them a legitimacy they do
not deserve.

At the time I still had hopes that Kerry was working behind the scenes,
everything was going according to plan, and that Bill was secretly
negotiating a deal involving a new election.

100%. Way too late Big Dog. You've remained silent on too many important issues and been a little too close to those thugs for comfort.
Edit - sp.

would have invaded Iraq if he were President. Glad to hear BC spoke up about this.

posting my exact thoughts

Gore gave his first major speech against the war in Sept. 2002, several weeks before the Congress voted to authorize the invasion. Part of that speech was urging Congress to vote against authorizing the invasion. Gore was barbecued by the press for daring to oppose the war, but he continued to speak out forcefully against the war for the past three years. Now that it's glaringly obvious that the war was a bad idea, Gore is often mentioned as the best "anti-war" candidate the Dems could field, yet the GOP constantly use Gore as one of the "major Dems who supported the war". (I have yet to hear or read any progressive/liberal/Dem whatever you wanna call 'em commentator point out that glaring inconsistency in the GOP's talking points.)

The fact that Clinton has finally figured out that the war was a bad idea is not going to stop the GOP from using him to justify their actions. And the progressive/liberal/Dem whatever you wanna call 'em commentators will continue to sleep at the switch.

Ritter said in a recent co-interview with Hersch that Gore would have invaded Iraq. I sat there thinking, "And people on DU hold this guy in such high esteem -- at heart he's as much of a Republican as he ever was." To tell such an outright lie is disgusting.

I am so sick of the so-called Progressives that refuse to see the truth about Gore. I guess if they admit it, then they have to admit that they were partially responsible for Bush---most of them voted Nader(because there was no difference between Gore and Bush):puke: :sarcasm:

more popular and not her in the USA.

But his support of the war for the last several years makes this statement useless.

the circular firing squad commences.:popcorn:

These people just can't pretend that they were opposed to the war all along. Clinton was one of the most craven in sandbagging the anti-war crowd.

:thumbsup:

The truth hurts. We'd call Republicans out on this, and we should do the same regarding Democrats. As for me, I'm not saying he was wrong, but the man has a lot of clout. If he had come out as forcefully as Al Gore -- maybe more Americans would have realized the insanity of invading Iraq. The real people in front of a firing squad are our service personnel. I cannot forgive anyone who was complacent in sending them off easily. Clinton could have come out a LOT earlier. Period.

If he hadn't have obtained pleasure in the oval office because "he could", his words, not mine, the party wouldn't be as impotent today as it is.

He gave the repukes what they wanted, a big fat moral stick to beat us over the head with.

And don't get me started on what he did to the Fairness Doctrine and other policies that adversely affected the nation while in office.

Putting our leaders on pedestals and not holding them responsible for their errors in judgment that harmed the nation is BS and stupid. How can we learn and improve if we don't recognize the mistakes and work to correct them and grow beyond them?

Enjoy the popcorn. :hi:

saying. Sure, our nation was in an economically sounder place and we were respected by most of the world when Big Dawg was in office. And that is what makes his "did it because I could" behavior all the more disgusting, not from a sexual or moral stand point, but from a political and leadership stand point. They were waiting on him to do something, they had been investigating him for years. Instead of being smart, he walked right into their hands, gave them what they wanted. I mean how stupid is that?

when they found him with Donna Rice on a boat called "Monkey Business" at a time when he knew the press was trying to pin peccadilloes on him.

But at least Hart was a liberal/progressive type, unlike NAFTA Bill the DLC Wonder Boy.

I mean, how many years were they trying to get the dirt on Big Dawg?
Instead of using judgment and restraint, he gave them the dirt just because he could.

And you are right, at least Hart was a liberal/progressive and don't get me started on NAFTA.

merh, you hit the nail on the head. We have to hold Democrats accountable for the parts they played in getting the nation to this part. They have been complacent and quite for far too long, and we can only improve our party by looking at it objectively WITHOUT rose-colored lenses.

:thumbsup:

Jesus, Bill...you can be so transparent sometimes.

BTW does subsequent good done after committing an intial evil absolve one of guilt? I don't think so!

how he supports this travesty. I wonder if Hil will follow in short order?

voted for the Kerry Resolution and the conservative resolution that eventually passed.

But I was happy to see she did so.

who doubt it was a bad idea?

However, I'm willing to bet that racist nutty bastard and turncoat Zell Miller still supports this shit.

for what they are

the right wing goes pretty nuts when anyone critizises Bush anywhere, but they go right over the edge when they do it "on foreign soil."

WILL THEY EVER CALL ON HIM TO FUND RAISE AGAIN?

OR, will BC better watch out for no working plane engines when he is on rounte back home or anywehre else?

... will go ballistic over this.

I haven't been over there yet, but it will be only a matter of time before the sewer at the so called Free Republic goes nuclear over this. Their heads will be exploding.

You can bet that there will be a thread - which will grow to many hundreds of posts - calling for his execution for treason over this act of being critical on foreign soil - this is always a particular sore point for those idiots.

The knuckle dragging blog sites, Miss Drudge, and the rest of the right wing echo chamber will be on this like the flies that they are on shit.

It will be sweet when Shrub*s father publicly criticizes his idiot son. It could happen.....

Bill is dragging his feet on this one but as we lead up to 08 elections I'm quite confident he'll be speaking against this lunatic president while dining out with Bush Sr.

he didn't say the invasion itself that was a mistake, it was the way the invasion was done.

just that it wasn't effective enough. I don't ever wish to support Democrats like this again. What he's saying is that he would have done the same thing, but done it more effectively.

I'd rather see this country fail if it is engaged in an aggressive, unjust war to wrongly exploit the resources of another country to support the needs of America's ruling elite.

If you look at Clinton's comments he is merely saying that the invasion was not planned well, not that the US has no right to invade a sovereign country and occupy it.

Those of us who are old-fashion, and think that international law should make a difference would point out even a well-organized, well-implemented invasion would still be a war crime, must reject Clinton's premise.

When Bush says that he is carrying out the same policy as Clinton, that also wanted "regime change" in Iraq, by any means necessary (including sanctions that killed hundreds of thousands) must concede that point, and then work to bring about change in the USA that would make this never possible to happen again.

Iraq's neighbors were trying to arrange an exile for Saddam, so it's just bullshit to say his removal via the destruction of an entire country's infrastructure and heritage is in any sense "good." The asshole would have been just as gone in exile, which has seemed to be plenty good enough for other assholes like Duvalier, Marcos and Somoza.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Former President Clinton told Arab students Wednesday the United States made a "big mistake" when it invaded Iraq, stoking the partisan debate back home over the war.
Clinton cited the lack of planning for what would happen after Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

"Saddam is gone. It's a good thing, but I don't agree with what was done," Clinton told students at a forum at the American University of Dubai.

"It was a big mistake. The American government made several errors ... one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country."

snip

Democrats are accusing President Bush of having misled the American public about the urgency of the Iraqi threat before his order to invade, and Bush on Monday threw back at Democratic critics the worries they once expressed about Saddam.


http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1116-12.htm
Story not available on AP site directly

Looks like Bubba has officially joined the flip-flop club..."Jump on board, the bandwagon's gettin full!"

I didn't hear you screaming about it before it happened. You weren't out in the streets with us.

Wanna check something to see if the Big Dog accidentally stuck his foot in his mouth...

23 Senators who voted NO

NAYs ---23
Akaka (D-HI)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Chafee (R-RI)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Graham (D-FL)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Wellstone (D-MN)
Wyden (D-OR)

Dem Reps who voted No

Victor F. 'Vic' Snyder
Edward 'Ed' Pastor
Nancy Pelosi
Dennis Kucinich
Bob Filner
Joe Baca
Jim Moran
Lynn C. Woolsey
Anna G. Eshoo
Michael M. 'Mike' Honda
Lucille Roybal-Allard
George Miller
C. Michael 'Mike' Thompson
Barbara Lee
Diane E. Watson
Xavier Becerra
Maxine Waters
Fortney H. 'Pete' Stark
Grace Flores Napolitano
Juanita Millender-McDonald
Zoe Lofgren
Sam Farr
Loretta L. Sanchez
Susan A. Davis
Hilda L. Solis
Lois Capps
Diana L. DeGette
Mark E. Udall
Rosa L. DeLauro
John B. Larson
Corrine Brown
Alcee L. HastingsD
John R. Lewis
Cynthia Ann McKinney
Neil Abercrombie
Jesse Louis Jackson
Lane A. Evans
Jerry F. Costello
Danny K. Davis
Bobby L. Rush
Luis V. Gutierrez
Janice D. 'Jan' Schakowsky
Julia M. Carson
Peter J. Visclosky
Michael E. Capuano
James P. 'Jim' McGovern
Richard E. Neal
John F. Tierney
William D. 'Bill' Delahunt
John W. Olver
Barney Frank
Benjamin L. Cardin
Elijah E. Cummings
John Elias Baldacci

:kick:

somebody Please give W a blowjob so you can impeach him

Finally! Now we can blame this whole thing on Clinton and his nefarious penis. - Bru ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Dick and George rub hands together and smile...

Now let's start talking about war crimes and the criminals who committed them.