I Would Have Thought It Would Be Something Else

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has buyer's remorse.

WASHINGTON --Four years to the day after voting to authorize war in Iraq, Senator John F. Kerry today asserted that the vote is his greatest regret of his political career, and said all lawmakers who voted for the war should admit that it was a mistake.
"There's nothing -- nothing -- in my life in public service I regret more, nothing even close," Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, wrote in a dispatch on the liberal blog HuffingtonPost.com. "We should all be willing to say: I was wrong, I should not have voted for the Iraq War Resolution."

Even the Boston Globe had a tongue in cheek comment on this latest pronouncement.

Throughout his 2004 presidential campaign, Kerry said that he would not have changed his vote to authorize force to topple Saddam Hussein. His struggles to articulate his position on the war epitomized his difficulty in communicating his campaign message.

Today's pronouncement marks Kerry's latest attempt to establish himself as a firmly anti-war senator as he prepares for another possible run for the White House. Last October -- 11 months after the election -- Kerry said for the first time that he had been wrong to vote to give President Bush the authority to remove Saddam Hussein by force.

There were, to be sure, many other choices he could have made. The Iraq War vote may not even be in his top ten.

• There was the decision to play catch.
• There was the decision to leave Vietnam after three nicks - maybe - in four months.
• Maybe it was the decision to coach false testimony in the Winter Soldier investigation.
• Or possibly his decision to give his own false testimony before Congress.
• Perhaps the decision not to sign (for general release) - still - his form 180 should bring him the greatest regret.
• Or could it be affirming that Iraq war vote two years after it took place and after losing the 2004 election?

Oh, there are so many choices. Perhaps this can refresh Mr. Kerry's memory of why he voted to authorize.

With respect to Saddam Hussein and the threat he presents, we must ask ourselves a simple question: Why? Why is Saddam Hussein pursuing weapons that most nations have agreed to limit or give up? Why is Saddam Hussein guilty of breaking his own cease-fire agreement with the international community? Why is Saddam Hussein attempting to develop nuclear weapons when most nations don't even try, and responsible nations that have them attempt to limit their potential for disaster? Why did Saddam Hussein threaten and provoke? Why does he develop missiles that exceed allowable limits? Why did Saddam Hussein lie and deceive the inspection teams previously? Why did Saddam Hussein not account for all of the weapons of mass destruction which UNSCOM identified? Why is he seeking to develop unmanned airborne vehicles for delivery of biological agents?

Why indeed, Senator. Why indeed.