Salon: What the Democrats who voted for the war are saying now.

This is interesting, a good summary of their positions.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/12/09/iraq_pullout/index.html

A couple of samples:

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Nov. 29, 2005

"What a colossal mistake it would be for America's bipartisan political leadership to choose this moment in history to lose its will, and in the famous phrase, to seize defeat from the jaws of the coming victory ... If all goes well, I believe we can have a much smaller American military presence there by the end of 2006 or in 2007, but it is also likely that our presence will need to be significant in Iraq or nearby for years to come."

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida , Nov. 23, 2005

Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Sen. Nelson, said the senator "feels in regard to establishing a timetable for troop withdrawal that is not the way to go ... At this point, the long-term national security interests are paramount issues, and cutting and running in Iraq is not the solution."

Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee, December 2005
(In a statement to Salon)

According to Rep. Ford's communication director, Corrine Ciocia, the congressman "doesn't support an immediate pullout" anytime soon. Instead, he suggests that President Bush bring in a new national security team, renounce permanent military bases in Iraq, and start an international fund to build hospitals and schools across the Middle East as part of a broad plan to "finish the effort in Iraq." Ford said recently that "we need some new ideas and strategies to squash or suppress this insurgency in Iraq so we can plant the seeds for democracy and, most important, bring our troops home."

We've lost 2,131 troops already.

Wouldn't it be nice if we built our own new schools and hospitals?

;-)

That would have meant taking their Constitutional responsibility seriously. They voted to authorize the pResident to use force if he said it was necessary. They voted to trust Bush, which any fool should know was stupid. But Bush's rhetoric at the time was, "War is a last resort." (Apparently he meant for himself personally) and that the resolution was necessary to intimidate Saddam into permitting weapons inspectors into Iraq facilities. Seems this is more plausible plausible deniability than the Repugs usually have: We voted to trust the President, and he lied to us. Don't tell me, Dems, that that's too strong language! 2000 Americans dead and a 100 times that many Iraqis killed or maimed, and 100,000 times that in needed dollars wasted on spreading death, distrust and vengeful feelings and strengthening the real terrorists.