Clinton Did It! (aka- Bush who?)

Very few right-wing attack/defense trends bother me more than the reactionary "It's Clinton's fault!!!" screams you get from pundits and bloggers. Despite the fact that President Clinton left office in January 2001, everything that has happened since then is still his fault. 9/11 was Clinton's fault (note: I don't remember people blaming Bush Sr. for the '93 WTC bombing). The bad economy is Clinton's fault (note: let's ignore that he was actually more fiscally conservative than Bush). The broken levees in New Orleans were Clinton's fault (note: because they certainly couldn't have been repaired in the 4 years since). And, of course, the Iraq war is Clinton's fault (note: I'll deal with this soon). This George W. Bush guy, whoever the hell he is, is just an innocent bystander in Clinton's mess- a hardworking man trying to make right the mistakes of the Clinton monster.

The NY Post did an editorial recently criticizing Clinton's statement in a recent speech that the Iraq war was a "big mistake". Today, they dedicated their entire letters page to negative reactions to this comment. Bill bad! They also dedicated a full-page editorial to attack the supposed duplicity of prominent Democrat leaders, showing statements they made for the war before it began and more recent statements they have against the war. The point of this, I imagine, is to say that any critiques they have now are invalid because at one time they supported it.

While I won't say that Democrats or Clinton shouldn't be held accountable for the decisions and statements they made, the argument is incredibly flawed and hypocritical. For one thing, I don't remember the Post ever dedicating a full-page, half-page, or quarter-page editorial to the statements made by the Bush administration regarding the war.

First- Clinton. Let's ignore for now the influence the Bush neocon crew had on Clinton's Iraq policy. We'll move onto the main points. The best debunking of the Clinton/Iraq stuff I have seen is here: Dubya & Willy. Most of the 1998 Clinton quotes that are passed around about Iraq (where talks about Saddam's threat and weapons) are from before Operation Desert Fox, launched specifically to target Saddam's remaining WMD capabilities (most of which were already gone after years of UN inspections and weapons destruction). By all accounts, this operation was a huge success. 87 of the 100 targets were destroyed, including all WMD targets. Republicans, of course, complained about this operation, accusing him of merely trying to distract from scandals. Regardless, Clinton was satisfied (and history has proven him right) that this mission had removed what remained of Saddam's threat. Perhaps this success is why, when they first came into office, Bush administration officials made statements like this:
"He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq..."
-Colin Powell (February 24, 2001)

"The sanctions, as they are called, have succeeded over the last 10 years, not in deterring him from moving in that direction, but from actually being able to move in that direction... And even though we have no doubt in our mind that the Iraqi regime is pursuing programs to develop weapons of mass destruction -- chemical, biological and nuclear -- I think the best intelligence estimates suggest that they have not been terribly successful."
-Colin Powell (May 15, 2001)

"We are able to keep arms from him [Hussein]. His military forces have not been rebuilt."
-Condoleezza Rice (July 29, 2001)

After 9/11, of course, their tune changed. The Bush crew would take a bolder approach.

Second- The Democrats. Yes, the Democrats did agree with the Bush administration's renewed fears of Saddam's WMD capabilities. And yes, they did vote on the Iraq war resolution (a resolution that was presented as a tool of diplomacy, rather than a declaration of war). But I don't think this is the main issue. I think alot of the Democrats' decisions had to do with political cowardice (they didn't want to end up like Max Cleland, a crippled Vietnam vet Senator who was smeared out of office because he stood up for his principles). And no, that's not an excuse, just my interpretation of the situation. Mainly, though, the Democrats believed the Saddam threat because of the intelligence they were given- intelligence we know now to be false. They also did not have the complete intelligence picture the White House did, a larger picture that cast doubt on the Saddam threat. While we shouldn't ignore their actions/statements before the war, I don't cast the blame on them primarily. Perhaps, in the end, their biggest mistake was trusting their President. And Congress should always be able to trust its President. In 2002, Congress did. They were mistaken, but that is not their fault.

When the truth began to come about the Iraq intelligence, and the situation there began to deteriorate (due to poor leadership from the Secretary of Defense and Commander-in-Chief), yes the Democrats did change their mind on the war. That is not flip-flopping. That is called changing one's mind. When circumstances change, that is not only a perfectly okay thing to do, it is the intelligent thing to do. Many of Bush's problems stem from his inability to change his mind and leave his comfort zone. Many say that the Democrats' critiques are not enough; they need to suggest real ideas. That's a fair point and they are starting to do that. But they are better than the Republicans whose entire Iraq policy is simply "stay the course"- a catch phrase. The Democrats are starting to put some real fire into the war discussion and the Republicans don't like it, so they are falling back on their primary tactic- smear.

No, we shouldn't ignore the roles the Democrats played in this war, but they are not in charge. They are a minority party. Bill Clinton isn't in charge either; he hasn't been for five years. The Democrats didn't invade Iraq. Bill Clinton didn't either. George W. Bush, and his administration, did.

Somehow the Republicans have forgotten that. It's time to remember.