Wes Clark was "for" an Iraq resolution, it just happens that it wasn't the one passed in the Senate on October 10, 2002. Clark favored and pushed for the Levin Amendment, the only resolution offered that confined Bush to going to the United Nations to appeal to the U.N. the need for a possible use of force in Iraq. If the President couldn't get what he wanted from the United Nations, he was to return to the Congress prior to taking further action. In other words, the Levin Amendment was not a Carte Blanche to wage war. Instead it was a road map that pointed first to the U.N., and if unable to persuade them, Bush was to come back for a second authorization from Congress to use unilateral force.
The Levin Amendment was the Resolution that would have dramatically slowed our march into an elective war that we didn't need to fight aka, the Biggest Strategic Blunder in American History.
Sen. Chafee, the Rhode Island Senator, the lone Republican to have voted against the Lieberman IWR , and who was defeated in his 2006 re-election bid wrote a scathing Op-Ed in the NYT recently asking why Senators who were "sorry" about their "mistaken" vote hadn't bothered to vote for the Levin Amendment if they only "wanted" to give Bush the authority to work through the U.N.?
Just check out what EPIC was stating just a day before the 2002 Iraq War Resolution vote!
Senators Clinton, Edwards (co-sponsor of the Lieberman Iraq War Resolution), Biden and Dodd are all in one way or another "sorry" for their vote. Yet they all voted against the Levin Amendment, but for Lieberman's Iraq War Resolution.
The majority of Senators who courageously voted against Lieberman's Iraq War Resolution are the same ones who voted "for" the Levin Amendment.
Confused?
Well follow the very interesting conversation that ensued on Democratic Underground in reference to the Levin Admendment here. It will provide all of the information you need to know to understand that those who are sorry now are not telling it like it is.
Too bad! A sincere Mea Culpa dealing with the true reasons why these politicians voted as they did would have been much more appreciated than a "Cover me Ass" excuse....which is really all that their words add up to at the end...and yes, especially you Mr. John Edwards. Apologizing 3 years after-the-fact and stating that you were misled is really incredible. You co-sponsored the doggone Lieberman bill! Geeze!
also read:
"Clark Says He Would Have Voted for War "- Dissecting Adam Nagourney's '03 NYT article
What Wes Clark said prior to The Iraq War
The Iraq War Resolution - Did Clark support "a" resolution or "the" resolution?
Mining and finding Prescient Gems-Clark's 2002 Iraq Congressional Testimony
Wes Clark in '08! Why Supporting someone who was Right on Iraq in 2002 makes sense.
Clark's 2002 Congressional Testimony - Youtube w/t Transcript
