Stunning admission: Most GOP members of Congress think Iraq War a mistake.

Wow. It's one thing for them to say this privately (I think they have for years), but this is really remarkable:

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/03/18/gop-congressmen-most-republicans-now-think-iraq-war-was-a-mistake/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CatoHomepageHeadlines+%28Cato+Headlines%29&utm_content=Twitter



It goes to show politicians never say what they really think. All of that "cut and run" rhetoric was essentially BS. I mean what is real about these people? They're probably for health care reform, too.

I think that among Democrats, I would be willing to bet that all but a few believed it a bad idea by late 2004. I suspect that it might not have been much more than half that thought it was a bad idea in early 2003 before the war or when the war first started. (The NYT tacitly seemed to believe it in January 2005 when they praised "spreading democracy" to the heights - ignoring that those were reasons Bush denied through the election. An address that some Democrats - including Biden, who said it was JFK with a Texan twang - praised.)

With the Republicans, I would suspect that the isolationist non-neocon part of the party might have really had reservations - completely unexpressed - even before the war started, but their values were to follow the CIC. I suspect that the neo cons and neolibs might both have been intrigued with the idea while other parts of each party quickly were not convinced it was a good idea.

What is surprising is this being said - as compared to the awful Newsweek "mission accomplished" cover recently that suggested Bush did succeed in getting a thriving democracy in Iraq.

even on the eve of the invasion:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100405/mitchell



I think what happened was there were a lot of loud mouths saying you were a traitor if you didn't back the war and the President, and that bred fear among people to stay quiet. Recall, Michael Moore speaking out against the war at the Oscars and being booed . . . by a Hollywood crowd. Also remember the way the Dixie Chicks were treated. It really was not about the whole country backing the war. It was about the dissenters being silenced.

I went with my oldest two daughters to a big anti-war rally in DC in either January or February 2003. My husband and my youngest stayed home because she had Hebrew school. It was really weird as someone who went to college in the late 60s/early 70s to again be at a peace rally, but with my 2 teens. I watched the polls and the anti-war numbers grew, and as your quote says the people urging waiting really did get close to 50%.

I actually had a lot of hope especially when Saddam allowed his missiles to be destroyed - they flew beyond the agreed limit with no payload - though with any payload they did no go beyond the limit. I wish more Democrats - and more Republicans - would have spoken out more in that time period. Kerry did speak out out, in more than just the Georgetown speech, but even he could have used the sharper words he used later that year. But, the media then, as now chose what to amplify.

I don't think Bush would have listened, but more people would remember that by March 2003, much had happened since the fall - in particular inspectors were in for the first time in 4 years. Rove in his appearances - spoke of even Boxer and Kennedy, who voted no, both spoke of the possibility that they had WMD and he spoke of Gore saying so in September 2002 (ignoring that Gore spoke against war). In each of the appearances I saw, NONE of the interviewers mentioned that there were 5 or 6 months between the comments (and the vote) and Bush's decision. I hope someone eventually calls him on it.