"The war in Iraq did not have to be fought."

Reading an interview with Howard Dean about Bush's use of terrorist threats to help bolster his flagging campaign, I found this brief Q&A with Senator Robert C. Byrd (D - West Virginia)...

Q: I had the honor of meeting you at the New York City promotion of your book which I am now reading. I am baffled by the fact most democrats who voted for the Iraq resolution have not admitted they made a mistake. Case in point, Senator Hillary Clinton who introduced you during your appearance in New York. What struck me was her assertion that your fellow colleagues in the Senate listen to you. I only wish. Her vote in particular was very upsetting. Why do you believe there is such a reticence in admitting the Iraq vote was an error? Don't you think it is hurting Kerry and Edwards to avoid answering this question?

Sen. Robert Byrd: I think that the others were misled by the administration. The administration misled the American people and to my colleagues in the Congress. To begin with this President manipulated the election and manipulated the vote on the House Joint resolution which authorized the president to use the armed forces as he determined to be necessary to protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat by saddam. I am using words that were in the resolution. In the first place there was no continuing threat. We saw in the war that Saddam Hussein couldn't even get a plane off the ground. The president maneuvered the congress into passing this joint resolution just prior to an election which would naturally have an impact on the outcome of the vote. Senators were afraid to vote against this resolution shifting the power to the Congress under the constitution to declare war to the President. Many of them probably thought that to vote against the resolution would be seen as unpatriotic and consequently they voted for the resolution. I fought against having a vote on the resolution just prior to the election. The Bush White House made a political decision that 9/11 presented an opportunity to attack without provocation the sovereign state of Iraq. The war in Iraq did not have to be fought. It was the wrong war at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.