Bernie O'Hare: One quick question about Iraq, since nobody discussed it. You indicated that congressman Dent has voted with George Bush 100% or something like that. When I interviewed him, he said he was in favor of a responsible drawdown under a Status of Forces agreement with the sovereign government of Iraq. Do you disagree with that, and what's your view on mandatory rest periods?"Well, since you mention mandatory rest periods, Congressman Dent voted against mandatory rest periods.
"Quite frankly, Congressman Dent can say whatever he'd like about his position, but the truth of matter is, my job as challenger is to point out his voting record. His voting record is that he has voted 100% with Bush on Iraq. Nothing can change those votes.
"He voted with George Bush for the war in Iraq after everybody knew there were no weapons of mass destruction.
"It's my job to challenge and hold him accountable for the day, the hour and the time that he voted on issues like the war in Iraq. That's my job and that's what I do."
9 comments:
He might be in favor of it, but he didn't vote that way!
She is factually challenged here. Dent explained his iraq position pretty well. He did not support Bush.
Sam,
Wrong again. We found WMD in Iraq.
We found Mustard filled shells (banned by the UN) a chemical weapon.
We found Sarin filled shells in Iraq (banned by the UN) a nerve gas.
We found several tons of uranium and 'yellow cake' which the Dems claimed was a lie by Bush. The last shipments were sent in July to Canada.
We found buried and modified MIG jets that had spray tanks. Guess Saddam wanted to spray fertilizer on Iraqi crops.
We found the banned Al Samoud missiles which were specifically prohibited by the UN.
We found buried SCUD missiles, which were supposed to have been destroyed per UN order.
We found illegal (banned by the UN) designs for Nukes that were buried in an Iraqi scientists garden. I guess he wanted it for fertilizer and not to reconstitute a weapons program when the inspectors were done.
We found banned centrifuges to purify uranium into weapons grade material. I guess they made some cool desk ornaments.
You can argue if war was justified or not. But to say that "no WMD" was found is a falsehood - or is incredible ignorance.
There was no justification for this pre-emptive strike against a nation that posed no threat. What we did was a violation of the U.N. Charter. Moreover, we ignored the warnings of just about every major religion.
The suggestion that there was any amount of WMD that could damage anyone is ludicrous, revisionist thinking.
But the simple truth is that Dent was NOT in office when Congress authorized this debacle. He did endorse the ISG and tried to have that adopted, twice, as official American policy. he recognized that immediate withdrawal or a withdrawal under legislatively set timelines was legislated defeat. Dent has been urging the adoption of a S/F agreement with time horizons.
His approach has been reasonable and probably reflects the view of most of those in the center.
Why doesn't anyone ask Ms. Bennett where she gets the facts upon which she makes the very damning charges that:
1. Rep. Dent votes with Bush/the Republican machine 100% of the time? Every time I have looked at congressional voting records, I find information to the contrary.
GovTrack.US
Project Vote Smart
U.S. Congress Vote Database
2. Rep. Dent supported the war in Iraq. There was no U.S. Congressman Dent at that time. He came to office AFTER we went to war.
SourceWatch
3. Rep. Dent received $75,000 from "Big Oil"? All public records show he received less than $10,000 from all energy-related donors combined. (Perhaps a bit OT, but it's just as frustrating to see this claim in print repeatedly, from someone--if elelcted--we would rely no for accurate representation and reporting from the floor of Congress.)
OpenSecrets
Yes, she has polished up her rhetoric, but the content of her platform is still lacking, in my opinion.
"What we did was a violation of the U.N. Charter."
Nice try, but bullshit. We enforced numerous UN Security Council resolutions that had been repeatedly violated despite the threats of military force. Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton agreed.
The merits of the success of the invasion may be argued, but the UN's resolutions were enforced.
Not so much for Clinton's bombing of the Serbs back to the Stone Age - and the subsequent slaughter he left in his wake (it continues today).
Joe Hilliard said...
In his post at 3:15 AM a number of WMDs found in IRAQ. I did an internet search and found a number of articles but mostly from 2005 or earlie and all indicated that no WMDs were found. This one:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7634313/
is typical indicating the CIA had given up with nothing found.
Could you please cite your sources so I can check them?
I read that Hussein did indeed want to have WMDs and his own people were so afraid of him that they lied. Thus, both Bush and Hussein were surprised when nothing was found.
Thanks.
Nice try, but bullshit. We enforced numerous UN Security Council resolutions that had been repeatedly violated despite the threats of military force. Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton agreed.
We had to authority to enforce UN Security Council resolutions. That authority comes from the UN, not Congress or the Prez. We violated international law.
Every time this country has sent troops to shoot guns in another country we have violated international law. FDR (that guy who had as much foreign policy as Sarah Palin when he went to Washington) knew this and fought with a country that had no association with Pearl Harbor. History repeats its lessons regularly.
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