In the five years since the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, history has been revised by many interested parties. The myths usually involve some variation on a theme:
"Saddam Hussein was a threat, and everyone agreed that something had to be done. We were all fooled."
...with the latter sentence applied either to Saddam, or George W. Bush, or both.
People who were either for invading Iraq, or who were wishy-washy on the point, now claim to have been against this epic disaster because they have criticized (however mildly, however many years later) the way the war was managed.
On this 5th anniversary of the greatest foreign policy debacle of modern times, I'd like to remind us all that there were voices explicitly against this war -- people who warned us, very precisely, of the results we see today.
Most impressively, there were millions of people in this country and the world over who saw what was coming, banded together and took to the streets hoping to stop this horror show before it started. Though street protest is roundly mocked these days -- and sometimes rightly so -- this was an act of courage and commitment by many of the world's citizens, who saw where this was leading.
They were ignored. WE were ignored.
Given that we've now been spun dizzy by politicians and media types about this war -- and what being against it really means -- let me remind us all that some of our elected representatives actually tried to stop this bloody tragedy before it got going.
These are not perfect politicians. Some of them aren't among my favorite Senators. And a few of my actual favorites -- like John Kerry and John Edwards -- aren't on this list, having voted FOR the war, shamefully enough.
But these current and former U.S. Senators earn a special place of honor in American history for saying "NO" when it really mattered.
The moral heroes of that hour were not just in the U.S. Senate, of course. But as a start, it's worth remembering that in the face of a mad drumbeat to war, these 23 Senators put their own self-interest aside for a moment, and stood firm. Instead of gaming how their vote would serve them politically, they thought of our soldiers, the people of Iraq, and the good of this country. Today I thank them.
Let me close this by posting something which might be doubly sad. Below is a speech made by my political hero, Paul Wellstone, who I was lucky enough to meet a few times in person. The late Sen. Wellstone wasn't perfect, and he knew it better than anyone. But for the most part, he could be counted on to find his moral center in crises like the looming Iraq War.
This was Paul Wellstone's statement on the eve of the Iraq invasion. It's hard for me to believe that he was still with us when this Iraq tragedy was about to unfold. It's been that long. Hundreds of thousands of lives later, billions and billions of squandered resources later...
Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash just a few weeks later.
