Moreover, can you imagine the futility of trying to persuade these recalcitrant nations to join our coalition if they believed Iraq didn't have WMD, when they wouldn't join us even when they believed that he did?
There's more. Kerry has repeatedly accused President Bush of misleading us into war by distorting the intelligence and exaggerating the WMD threat. And Kerry said, "They were wrong, and soldiers lost their lives because they were wrong."
Isn't Kerry saying that he wouldn't have gone along with putting our troops in harm's way if President Bush hadn't misled us on the WMD question? If not because of Iraq's presumed WMD, then on what basis would he have voted to put our soldiers? lives on the line?
Also consider Kerry's statements after it appeared that we were not going to find stockpiles of WMD. When President Bush reminded his detractors that WMD was not the only reason he led us into war against Iraq, Kerry accused him of changing his story. "Now the president is giving us a new reason for sending people to war."
Hold on now. President Bush always offered multiple reasons for our military action against Iraq. But since Kerry raised the issue, perhaps he should give us his reasons for retrospectively supporting the resolution, even assuming there were no WMD stockpiles. It won't suffice for him to tell us yet again that he expected Bush to attack only as a last resort. He has to offer an underlying reason he would have supported the resolution even if he expected the president not to act on it immediately. And that underlying reason must satisfy his convention speech test of an imminent threat.
Finally, if Kerry thinks the cause against Iraq was required with or without WMD, why is he so anxious to precipitously withdraw our troops and jeopardize all that our soldiers have died for? Ah yes, how history (Vietnam) does repeat itself.