Shouldn't Congress be blamed for the war?

Question

They had the ultimate decsion. They voted for it.

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

The Congress did not approve a war with Iraq. It passed a resolution giving the President broad authority to persecute an enforcement of the UN Security Council's Resolutions forcing Iraq's compliance about WMD's and permitting UN Inspections. This included all diplomatic avenues and an authorization of the military forces "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq".

In other words, Congress freed the President to do as he saw fit. In the preamble to the authorization, the Congress specifically cited rationales based on false information.

Congress gave Mr. Bush the gun. The President pulled the trigger.

Answer 3

everyone voted for it except a few in congress. Cheney said in an interview before we invaded Iraq that the invasion of Iraq would be very difficult with huge problems after the invasion. He pointed out that the Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds would never allow peace and it would be difficult if not impossible to control these factions. I heard the interview and I was stunned to hear these dire predictions coming from the vice president....but dire or not he was correct in his assumptions. So why did they go into Iraq? It was the president's decision of course and he and his people convinced congress that it was the correct thing to do. This proves to me that congress wasn't smart enough (adequately well informed) to make a decision of this kind and that Bush lied to them. Yes congress should be blamed in part for the war but it was really Bush's decision that forced it through. My question that lingers in my mind is did Bush go into Iraq because of the WMD or because Saddam Hussein tried to have Bush's father assassinated?

Answer 4

It is the presidential administration that makes an argument for war and Congress agrees or disagrees with a vote... then the war actually begins where the president conducts the war (Congress does not... they can be consulted but that is the president's call).

Bush was the conductor... he was the driver, not the fuel. We don't blame gasoline for car accidents, we blame drivers. Bush has been a bad driver. Maybe if he listened to Congress at any interval then we could blame Congress more, but he didn't... he didn't even listen to his generals or his Secretary of State (a decorated general familiar with that nation) at the time.

Answer 5

a) Many elected Democrats did NOT vote in favor of the resolution. Not to mention the millions of rank and filers who marched down the streets of our cities and were largely ignored by the press and brushed off by Bush. So to say, generically, that Democrats "supported the war" or to imply that there was tepid resistance to it, is false.

b) No matter how many people contest this point, a vote to give Bush authority WAS NOT a vote "for war." Bush also had the authority NOT to invade. Since Republicans are so fond of quoting John Kerry in support of the case for WMD, here are his words on the floor of the Senate the day of the Iraq War Resolution vote.

"In giving the President this authority, I expect him to fulfill the commitments he has made to the American people in recent days--to work with the United Nations Security Council to adopt a new resolution setting out tough and immediate inspection requirements, and to act with our allies at our side if we have to disarm Saddam Hussein by force. If he fails to do so, I will be among the first to speak out.

"If we do wind up going to war with Iraq, it is imperative that we do so with others in the international community, unless there is a showing of a grave, imminent--and I emphasize "imminent''--threat to this country which requires the President to respond in a way that protects our immediate national security needs.

"Prime Minister Tony Blair has recognized a similar need to distinguish how we approach this. He has said that he believes we should move in concert with allies, and he has promised his own party that he will not do so otherwise. The administration may not be in the habit of building coalitions, but that is what they need to do. And it is what can be done. If we go it alone without reason, we risk inflaming an entire region, breeding a new generation of terrorists, a new cadre of anti-American zealots, and we will be less secure, not more secure, at the end of the day, even with Saddam Hussein disarmed.

"Let there be no doubt or confusion about where we stand on this. I will support a multilateral effort to disarm him by force, if we ever exhaust those other options, as the President has promised, but I will not support a unilateral U.S. war against Iraq unless that threat is imminent and the multilateral effort has not proven possible under any circumstances."
Not exactly an endorsement of Bush's approach or a vote "for war."

Answer 6

Man, you are a Bush-boy. First you don't care about the 4th Amendment and the United States Constitution (your wiretapping ignorance), and now you show your cluelessness as to why GWB took us into Iraq.

The war was based on a LIE. While I grant you Congress didn't perform due diligence (I should remind you that was a Republican Congress scared of Bush), the war was still sold on outright lies.

To say otherwise you are deceiving yourself. There were no WMD's. That's why we went there...because (despite reports otherwise) Bush found one source that said there might be, and BAM.

The mideast is now worst off than ever, Iraq is a terrorist's playground, and the future of the world literally hangs in the balance.

I'm wondering why Bush hasn't been thrown out of office yet, and here you are, with all your Bush-boy followers, supporting the disaster.

Answer 7

Both the president and congress share responsibility for letting it drag on. I hope the voters notice that when it comes time for elections.

Answer 8

The president is the Commander and Chief of the military not congress.
Congress can take some reponsiblity for it. However Bush could have Said NO!!!!

Answer 9

Agreed. Flight 93 shares the blame as well. Clearly we would be much better off.

Answer 10

No ..... I think the entire congress , president and the house of something ... goverment works in check mate so they must all a prove of something .. aint like bush just said lets go to war and just cuz he said so we should , he had the sopport of the congresss

Answer 11

No..........They were told lies by the White House. Bush cherry picked his own intelligence to make a case for the war in Iraq. Also at the time Congress was controlled by the Republicans. So if you're blaming Congress you are blaming Republicans, but I am not. I am blaming Bush and his administration!!