Joe Biden voted for the AUMF against Iraq. Some people cannot forgive such a big mistake by members of Congress. Some people on this site actually have made the case that Congressman can also be guilty of war crimes for their vote.
This is my defense of Joe Biden, and other members of Congress who gave the President authorization to invade Iraq.
View the situation from Biden's eyes in the Senate. The Middle-East is the largest dinosaur mausoleum in the world. A dictator, whom after the first Gulf War despises America, controls much of that vital resource. Hussein threatened Israel, sponsored terrorism in Israel, and there was a strong case made by the Executive that he had WMD.
Think about it from a U.S. geopolitical standpoint. Is it not possible to swiftly move in, invade, implement regime change, and get out? Did Biden or anyone else in the Senate believe that the President would opt to dissolve that Baath party, disband the Iraqi military, and opt to occupy Iraq themselves instead of letting the military and police hold the country? That's stupidity.
You may be thinking that war is evil and we're talking about the murder of innocent people. One million Iraqis have died. I do not believe that those in the Senate thought at the time that so many lives would be lost in the Iraq war. It should have been over within a few weeks (and was actually the occupation has lasted 5 years).
If we had quickly, efficiently replaced Saddam Hussein with a Pro-American government it would have been a great American foreign policy coup. If not for the utterly inept policy of the Bush Administration it may have been successful.
And let me make one more quick observation for those who always feel war in abhorrent. Our lives our in danger without cheap oil. From our economy to our national security, oil is vital to this country. Were we to secure a swift regime change with a minimal loss of lives it may have been worth it. As it actually happened over a million Iraqis have died and over four thousand American soldiers.
It was a mistake but not a damning mistake. The damning mistake lies on the Bush administration whom opted to invade Iraq and did utterly incompetently. They misinformed the Congress about WMD. If you were in the Senate and given the facts at the time ask yourself what choice you would have made. As much as I see the stupidity of the war in hindsight, I may have been compelled at the time to vote yes. Perhaps though that is a good lesson that war should only be fought when absolutely necessary.