Senator Hollings of South Carolina appears to be the only Democrat who voted for the Iraqi war resolution and has apologized for the vote. He said on the Senate floor:
This crowd has got historical amnesia. There is no education in the second kick of a mule. This was a bad mistake. We were mislead. We are in there now, and I am hearing the same things that the Senator heard in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 right on through 1973.
We got onto this Iraqi venture, which was a bad mistake from the very beginning. There is not any question about it. If I went to a funeral this afternoon of a fallen soldier in Iraq, what would I say? Did they fall there for democracy? They are not going to have a democracy. It is going to be the Shiite democracy, like they have in Iran -- at best. That is exactly what Secretary Rumsfeld said we were not going to have.
Was it for nuclear? No.
Was it for terrorists? No, they didn't have terrorists there.
Your son gave his life for what? As their Senator, I am embarrassed. It wasn't for any of those things. Why we went in, the administration has yet to tell us. They keep changing the rules and the goalposts every time.
Has any other Member of Congress admitted their mistake and apologized? How about those high and mighty Presidential candidates criticizing Howard Dean for words which got a standing ovation at the DNC last winter? Has Dick Gephardt apologized for joining his hip to Bush's in the Rose Garden. Has Joe Lieberman or John Edwards apologized for trusting this Administration to seriously pursue diplomacy? Has John Kerry apologized for believing Bush's lies about Saddam's WMDs and connection to 9/11?
I guess not. Sadly, Senators Hollings appears to be the only Democrat with the courage to admit that he wishes he could go back and undo that horrible mistake.