“Petraeus (sp?) has not and will not use the word “victory.”
— Eric Mink”

Either has Obiden, what is your point?

Bob is right. Iraq was a menace. In 1991.
Also in the late 1980s, when Saddam was slaughtering his own people.
But in those days, Iraq was out ally because it was fighting a long war against Iran.
The question is whether Iraq was a menace in 2003. The answer is that it might have been, if it had those weapons of mass destruction. But it didn’t. And it wasn’t.
But there we go again, looking at the past.

I think Obama should play by the rules. He sounds like Sarah Palin when he doesn’t respect the moderator.

North Korea should have been taken on before Iraq. I think that’s become apparent.

Sorry Mr. Sarcasm… was going for brevity. Is there time to discuss Saddam’s many, many violations of UN oil for food, weapons, etc.

===

Less than 15 minutes left in this debate.

But not amassing weapons of mass destruction, which was the pretext for invasion…….

But Obama was against the war in the first place. So that makes McCain’s point moot.

There was a lot of evidence that there were WMDs. Iraq had weeks to clear WMDs out…and if they never existed in the first place they should have let UN inspectors in on demand, not make them wait weeks and weeks. Hindsight is 20/20 and we couldn’t afford to take the chance. The UN was doing nothing.

Gilbert, how about we take a look at what was in the AUMF;

The resolution cited many factors to justify the use of military force against Iraq:

* Iraq’s noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 cease fire, including interference with weapons inspectors.
* Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, and programs to develop such weapons, posed a “threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region.”
* Iraq’s “brutal repression of its civilian population.”
* Iraq’s “capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people”.
* Iraq’s hostility towards the United States as demonstrated by the alleged 1993 assassination attempt of former President George H. W. Bush, and firing on coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones following the 1991 Gulf War.
* Members of al-Qaeda were known to be in Iraq.
* Iraq’s “continu[ing] to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations,” including anti-United States terrorist organizations.
* The efforts by the Congress and the President to fight terrorists, including the September 11th, 2001 terrorists and those who aided or harbored them.
* The authorization by the Constitution and the Congress for the President to fight anti-United States terrorism.
* Citing the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the resolution reiterated that it should be the policy of the United States to remove the Saddam Hussein regime and promote a democratic replacement.