Friday, Feb. 23, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.
Recently, columns by Brian Greenspun and Tom Teepen in the Las Vegas Sun defended Sen. Hillary Clinton's vote on the Iraq war. Both columns, however, miss the point. I'm sure that, if elected, Mrs. Clinton would make a better president than any Republican. That being said, Mrs. Clinton was a part of a Congress that, without serious debate, granted war powers to George Bush.
The assumption that Congress was fooled by Bush is incorrect. In 2002 I knew there was no evidence that Saddam was tied to al-Qaida or possessed WMDs. I further knew that if Bush got war powers from Congress, he would use them. I knew that, and the 1,500 people who marched with me on the Strip early in 2003 knew it, and the millions of people around the world who protested the war before it started also knew that Bush was a liar and a warmonger. How could Congress not know it?
Now Iraq is in chaos and we are mired in an occupation that is bleeding us of money, lives and respect. Our constitutional freedoms lie in shambles, and we are less safe from terrorism than before 9/11. This is not just the fault of George Bush and the neocons. There will always be evil politicians, but for evil to succeed, good people must do nothing to stop it. Yes, I am calling for what Tom Teepen calls "suicidal politics."
It is easy to oppose Bush and the war now that the wind is blowing that way. But what if then-Secretary of State Colin Powell had not sold out his soul to Bush? What if Congress, including Mrs. Clinton, had demanded debate and solid evidence? What if the media had done their job and not fed on the fever of war? We might not be in the sorry state we find ourselves today.
Jerry Bitts, Las Vegas
archive
