Dear Senator Feingold,
In the midst of all the Hillary bashing going on at dailykos, and unfortunately for you, someone brought up your October 11, 2002 statement on why you opposed the authorization of force. And hey, that was great Russ, but I noticed some statements you made that look pretty lame and bonehead from a 2007 perspective. And, they led directly to the war in which a lot of people died for nothing.
I mean, you actually thought that Saddam possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction? (see bottom of diary) HA HA HA, Are you kidding me?!?! What kind of idiot were you? HE OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T!
Do you realize Russ (do you realize??), it was butt for brain stupidity like that that led to the horrible Iraq invasion?? You're responsible for that, Russ, along with all the other Senators who bought that key piece of b.s. and persuaded others to believe it! (And how many did you persuade, I demand to know. Don't go into denials, just give me a number. And then I want you to apologize for doing that too, and to each of those Senators.)
Hey Russ, President Bush tells you some lies, and you have a choice, a life-and-death choice, to enable him or not to. That's what believing that lie about WMD did, Russ, it enabled Bush to have his stupid war. And the thing is, you have to look at the context: everybody knew Bush would do whatever it took, even lie and persuade others to do so, to get his Iraq invasion. Didn't you know that Bush and Cheney and their neocon cabal were cooking the intelligence on the WMD? Well, why the heck not?? Didn't you know that Tenet and the CIA honchos, and Colin Powell too, were all in on the deal and going along with the pack of lies??
I repeat, everybody knows you obviously shouldn't have trusted Colin Powell back in 2002. Russ, why didn't you know that? Well then, here is your consequence: you must apologize. Abjectly I might add.
Cuz I sure knew Colin couldn't be trusted, and I even said so, in an old e-mail somewhere, I think.
Russ, bottom line, you were a simpering chump for fake intel, bogus intel that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people! So I can't understand why you would resist even for a moment giving us progressives an apology.
And, yeah sure, you voted against the resolution authorizing force, but the vast majority of Americans thought that if Saddam had WMD we had to go in and squelch that threat. You stood with those who believed that essential lie, the lie that caused us to go to war for no reason at all! (Did you even persuade a Senator or two of the truth of the WMD claim, Russ, say that Senate newbie Hillary? I bet you did; oh my g-a-w-d that's even more reprehensible!! Apologize!)
In conclusion, I have a big problem with you Russ, and so do many many others here at dailykos. Why didn't you fight the key fight, Russ, against the obviously (well, it was obvious by the end of 2003, wasn't it??) bogus WMD claim? So, on behalf of the entire progressive blogosphere, I demand an apology! Not just ask, I demand it!
Why didn't you know in 2002 what we all know now?
So just three little words, Russ . . . "I was wrong."
-- fairleft
P.S. -- By the way, Russ, and I'm just sayin', but what's wrong with your character, what's wrong with your soul, man, that you can't admit a mistake? You might just want to check yourself out, is all I'm saying.
***
From Russ Feingold, Why I Oppose Bush's Iraq War (October 11, 2002):
And with regard to Iraq, I agree that Iraq presents a genuine threat, especially in the form of weapons of mass destruction: chemical, biological and potentially nuclear weapons. I agree that Saddam Hussein is exceptionally dangerous and brutal, if not uniquely so, as the President argues. And I agree, I support the concept of regime change. ...
And I agree, therefore, Mr. President, we cannot do nothing with regard to Saddam Hussein and Iraq. We must act. We must act with serious purpose and stop the weapons of mass destruction and stop Saddam Hussein. And I agree a return to the inspections regime of the past alone is not a serious, credible policy.