Reply #3: Dean Didn't "Forsee" Anything [View All]

He and Trippi took advantage of the Anti-Iraq War sentiment among Progressive Democrats who were wired to the Internet. And, while that was an astute foward-looking political move it is belied by the following points:

Dean actually claims to have NOT VOTED FOR THE IRAQ RESOLUTION AS A MEMBER OF CONGRESS.

"I find it hard to believe that I'm the only major candidate running, who's in reasonably good shape in the polls, who voted No on the Iraq Resolution."

It's unfortunate that Dean's "foresight" didn't extend to the WMD- he believed Saddam had them.

"Tonight, for better or worse, America is at war. Tonight, every American, regardless of party, devoutly supports the
safety and success of our men and women in the field. Those of us who, over the past 6 months, have expressed deep
concerns about this President's management of the crisis, mistreatment of our allies and misconstruction of
international law, have never been in doubt about the evil of Saddam Hussein or the necessity of removing his weapons of mass destruction."

And while he's made statements about how wrong Bush was ingoing into Iraq- it's on the record that he didn't oppose the principle of unilateral, preemptive war with Iraq:

"as I've said... that Saddam must be disarmed, but with a multilateral force under the auspices of the United Nations. If the U.N. in the end chooses not to enforce its own resolutions, then the U.S. should give Saddam 30 to 60 days to disarm, and if he doesn't, unilateral action is a regrettable, but unavoidable, choice.

The Iraq Resolution is HISTORY.

There's no reason to expect people to believe Dean would have voted "No" just because he says so.

Almost all Democratic Candidates have similiar positons on what to do in Iraq now that we're there.

Dean better figure out a way to reach people without relying on Iraq.

Saying he was one of the first to start questioning it is NOT going to win an election.