Anti War Representatives Heard – 4 Years Late

Walter Pincus is among the best reporters we have had in the whole miserable run up to and sorry execution of the war. It is very nice to have him write this retrospective of Democrats now about to take power.

Although given little public credit at the time, or since, many of the 126 House Democrats who spoke out and voted against the October 2002 resolution that gave President Bush authority to wage war against Iraq have turned out to be correct in their warnings about the problems a war would create.

With the Democrats taking over control of the House next January, the views that some voiced during two days of debate four years ago are worth recalling, since many of those lawmakers will move into positions of power. They include not only members of the new House leadership but also the incoming chairmen of the Appropriations, Armed Services, Budget and Judiciary committees and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Democrats Move Into Power

However, I think the closing sentence of his piece needs a thorough and tough-minded piece or two all on its own.

[Congresswoman Barbara] Lee was described as giving a “fiery denunciation” of the administration’s “rush to war,” with only 14 colleagues in the House chamber to hear her.

None of the reasons she gave to justify her concerns, nor those voiced by other Democratic opponents, was reported in the two Post stories about passage of the resolution that day.

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