By Doug Bandow
Amazing. Most congressional Republicans believe the Iraq invasion was a mistake.
Two GOP congressmen say most Republicans on the Hill now believe the Iraq war was a mistake, and “more than half the Republican caucus” believes the way in which the US entered the Afghanistan war was also a mistake.
Reps. Tom McClintock (R-CA) and Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA) made the comments at a discussion panel at the Cato Institute on Thursday.
Going into Iraq “was a mistake because I thought we had to finish the job in Afghanistan,” Rohrbacher told the panel, echoing a popular Democratic talking point at the time.
“In retrospect, almost all of us think that was a horrible mistake,” Rohrbacher said. “Now that we know that it cost a trillion dollars, and all of these years, and all of these lives, and all of this blood … all I can say is everyone I know thinks it was a mistake to go in now.”
Asked by panel moderator Grover Norquist what percentage of Republican congressmen agree with that view, McClintock said, “I think everyone [in Congress] would agree that Iraq was a mistake.”
After 4400 dead Americans and tens of thousands of dead Iraqis, as well as hundreds of billions of dollars wasted, we find out it that even those who so strongly supported the war believe it was all a blunder.
When will someone be held accountable?